Zero Dark Thirty // DVD Review
Kathryn Bigelow’s ‘Where’s Osama?’ is an intelligent film - uncompromisingly so, in fact - but I question its wisdom.
A wise man once said “intelligence is knowing that the tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not serving it with ice-cream”. Kathryn Bigelow’s ‘Where’s Osama?’ is an intelligent film - uncompromisingly so, in fact - but I question its wisdom.
Allow me to elaborate… From the opening moments – doomed voices during the WTC attacks over a black screen – there is a sense of dispassion. The depiction of torture is unapologetic, the story unfolds with mechanical efficiency, and the finale is executed with cold precision. But there are questions about this story that the film leaves unasked. After all, we are watching the meticulously plotted assassination of an untried man.
Whatever your feelings about that statement, and there are many to choose from, this film never comments on any. Now, let none of my bleeding-heart bullshit put you off ZDT; it’s certainly of the same calibre as Bigelow’s extraordinary Hurt Locker. The detective story at its heart is expertly delivered, Jessica Chastain’s Oscar nominated turn drives the film with subtlety and even though you know the ending (unless you’ve been hiding in a cave for a few years, that is) the last act of the film is genuinely nail-biting.
I suppose I should be glad that there is neither frat-boy flag-waving nor liberal apologism; I’d feel patronised either way. Maybe its impartiality is its strength. But without some exploration of the feelings this event evoked we’re just rubbernecking, watching how America spent untold lives and money on producing yet another fucking corpse. That left me unsatisfied and with a nasty taste in my mouth - unlike the time I tried tomato and ice-cream, which was filling and delicious.
Jay Freeman
