The film makes all of this clear, but it also doesn’t spoon-feed the viewer. The secrets that lead to the successful location of bin Laden come not from brute force, but from guile, solid detective work and a couple of lucky breaks. Anyone who calls Zero Dark Thirty pro-torture is not only wrong, but clearly not paying attention. The frustration is palpable on the faces of Dan and Maya, and similar situations early in the film confirm the futility of what the CIA euphemistically calls “enhanced interrogation.” It’s set in a filthy room in a CIA “black site.” Maya impassively watches, her face hidden by a ski mask, as Dan (Jason Clarke), the spy agency’s “man in Islamabad,” brutally attempts to pry information about bin Laden and his al-Qaeda operation from captured terror suspect Ammar (Reda Kateb).īeatings, humiliation, waterboarding and finally confinement are used against Ammar, who refuses to give up his secrets. This includes the torture scene at the film’s outset, following a mercifully brief prologue over a darkened screen where the voices of doomed World Trade Center victims are heard in cellphone calls on Sept. She’s had to fight sexism, doubt and red tape throughout her career, but she has proven herself in situations that would make many men flinch. Her porcelain skin, delicate features and feminine attire belie the steel within. But it’s one of the many distinctions of this film that afterwards you question what “hero” really means.Ĭhastain makes Maya as vivid as a bloodshot eye. Maya is the real hero of Zero Dark Thirty, the CIA targeter (likely a composite of several) whose diligence and persistence led to the discovery and 2011 killing of 9/11 terror mastermind bin Laden, the world’s most wanted man. We already know that Maya is no mere stereotype, in this movie by Kathryn Bigelow - nominated Thursday for five Academy Awards - that combines dramatic flair with documentary realism and that turns a spy-trade procedural into the most white-knuckle of thrillers. It’s just about the only moment in this incredible film that could be called conventional: the anxious woman left behind as the men go off to be heroes, with Alexandre Desplat’s magnificently tense score rising along with the dust of their stealth Black Hawk helicopters. Take a good look at the scene in Zero Dark Thirty where Jessica Chastain’s Maya stands watching the all-male Navy SEALS fly off to take down Osama bin Laden. Starring Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Jennifer Ehle, Mark Strong, Kyle Chandler and Reda Kateb.

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