Review of Zero Dark Thirty

"Zero Dark Thirty" is a 2012 political thriller directed by Kathryn Bigelow starring Jessica Chastain and Jason Clarke. The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in 2001 are on of the most tragic events in the history of the United States of America, if not in the history of mankind in general. Whether you are American or not, this bloodcurdling day is still etched in the minds of the people. On this day only, terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda, with Osama Bin Laden leading the way, has taken the life of almost three thousand innocent Americans, and to this day, this tragedy in the beginning of the new millennium remains a day of remembrance. Shortly after these devastating happenings, every intelligence in the USA was ordered to track down and kill Bin Laden, to let him pay for what he has done. After he seemed to have vanished for multiple years, the CIA was able to eventually chase down the notorious leader of the terror network and take him out, after more than a decade-long search. This tragic story and especially how they started out with nothing are exactly what director Bigelow re-enacted with this stunning film. Beforehand, I knew that it was tough material and that it was going to be a Herculean task to depict the full vehemence of this true story, but I was sure that the director would be capable of doing it justice. Earlier this month I watched one of her earlier works, "Point Break", and two years ago I have already seen here first collaboration with Mark Boal, "The Hurt Locker" and that was enough for me to be persuaded that it is going to be as packing as the previously mentioned titles. Funnily enough, this film and I share a past, even though I have never seen it before. Around the time I have watched her award winning, Jeremy Renner fronted war thriller in 2018, I also had purchased this film here, but had kicked it down the road ever since. I always wanted to give it a spin in summer season, but in both 2018 and 2019, fall has come before I was able to check it out. I am not quite sure why, whether it was the long runtime or the subject matter that requires the viewer to be in a certain mood, but I never got around doing it. Only after I heard so much good things about it and it was directly recommended to me recently, I finally settled the score and gave it a watch. Oh boy, I kind of hate myself for not having watched it earlier. As I expected, Bigelow and Boal in fact made a cinematic achievement that is unlike many others. Aside from the fact that she again assembled a star-studded cast for her project, she was also able to enact the sheer intensity and complexity of the story and makes it look like the easiest task in the world. What impressed me the most to see though, that it wasn't only the glorification of probably the biggest revenge campaign in the history of the USA, but also shone a light on the shady side of this infamous operation and tackled all kinds of emotions one could feel in this context. Aside from real voice recordings, telephone calls and voice overs of news from that very day that turned out to have been used without permission, the film also depicts delicate details the US government probably didn't want to surface. As if the first minutes of black screen haven't hit me deeply enough, the sequences were detainees were tortured by CIA agents in order to receive information from them were gut-wrenching as well. I mean, who doesn't cringe at someone who is illegally waterboarded? Anyways, from there on I knew I was in for an uncompromising political thriller that doesn't mince matters in the slightest, because those two mentioned sequences were only approximately ten minutes of this two and a half hours behemoth. To be honest, my biggest fear that this film would be lengthy at times fortunately turned out to be false. Any minute less would have been insulting, as this film knows to grab its audience and not bore it out. Jessica Chastain is flat-out magnificent as the protagonist, the determined CIA operative Maya who eventually is responsible for the success of this whole operation. Her impressive performance leads the viewer through this well constructed battlefield of a plot, and with this film (that should have granted her the well-deserved Academy Award) she once again reminded me why she is one of my favourite actresses in the business (the scene she confronts Kyle Chandler's character? Boy, love her so much!). Speaking of plot, it is by far one of the most outstanding scripts I have ever seen in my entire reviewing career. It deals with an undeniably complex subject matter and still made it both, sophisticated and yet easily comprehensible. I am probably not the only one who doesn't have a notion about those kind of secret intelligence operations and researches, hence it was terrific to see that they managed to make it clear for a mainstream audience, and on top of that, extremely intriguing to follow. It is outstandingly paced and built up and calls a spade a spade. In everything it depicts, it is realistically merciless and doesn't hesitate to even tackle the hardest parts of this undoubtedly intense story. To the smallest detail, the viewer gets to witness everything, the successes, and the failure, until it peaks in the final act that is easily the most sensational sequence of the already outstandingly crafted movie. In the last roughly half and hour, Bigelow depicts the storming of Bin Laden's compound, also known as "Operation Neptune's Spear", and enacts it so powerfully that it had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. The way the film captures the whole operation, it didn't feel like I was watching a work of fiction and sat in my own room, it rather felt like I was in the situation myself. Like it has been the case in this film already all the time, this was only possible thanks to three key factors: cinematography, sound, and direction. DOP Greg Freiser knows to handle the camera and enable it to capture the rawest form of vehemence that underlies every single scene. The same applies to the stunning editing and sound score that know to support this emotion as well. All of that wouldn't be as marvellous as it is without the phenomenal direction of Kathryn Bigelow who coordinates all those elements and weaves it together like it was the easiest task on earth. Oh, and the end is also worth the mention for what emotions it has caused in me. Even though I was of course aware that Bin Laden has been successfully killed in this operation, it was alleviating to see that they indeed tracked down the right man. I am not even American, but this short but significant scene made me patriotic for a country I don't have the slightest connection with. As if that satisfaction wasn't already enough, we also get another scene that wraps up the role of our beloved protagonist Maya. After identifying the body as her main target, she is flown out back to the states, as she then has no task anymore. That was indeed a heart-breaking sequence, as she breaks out in tears, for she has spent most of her life on this one man and hence feels like she has no purpose anymore. I don't know if that was really important to the plot, but it unexpectedly touched me. All in all, this outstanding political thriller combines everything it needs to do this real story justice and treat it with respect. It doesn't omit a detail and narrates this story in a powerful manner and is also near perfect in terms of cinematic qualities. Lead by a brilliant Chastain, the star-studded cast knows to make the merciless story come to life in all its facets and still extremely enjoyable, nevertheless. It is complex, complicated, and yet, easy to follow, and most importantly, magnificently build up, well-paced and using its indeed long runtime superbly. All this is the work of outstanding director Kathryn Bigelow who seems to be the Hollywood counterpart of King Midas, as everything she touches turns to gold. An outstanding film, a phenomenal political thriller, and a title that everyone should have seen at least once, as it is film making par excellence. I am literally in awe for this cinematic achievement and wish I had seen it earlier. Don't make the same mistake I did and go watch it now if you haven't already. Simply Marvellous cinema.