It's kind of nice to be in a position in which I have absolutely no idea how close to accurate this film is, so I can enjoy it for what it is. Make no mistake, there are things in the film which are controversial, so their veracity is important. But, since the end of the movie is already known going in, the journey to the ending is what makes this movie noteworthy. The movie clearly wants to depict certain things with which the viewer can grapple, but I felt that the movie's strong point was the fact that it didn't preach. With some of the things depicted in this film being very controversial, I think it would have been easy for director Kathryn Bigelow to stray into the realm of moralising, and I think it is to her credit (and the film's) that she did not.
The film follows the 11 year journey of one CIA agent named Maya. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, America got involved all over the world in leads regarding terrorism, and became particularly entangled in Iraq and Afganistan. Maya moves to Pakistan to help the CIA track down terrorists, particularly the ehad of Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden. Some of the opening scenes involve Maya acclimating to the difficult world of interrogation. The scenes depicting water boarding and other interrogation methods are handled honestly, and with very little commentary. It is clear that the first time Maya sees an interrogation that she is uncomfortable. She clearly becomes more comfortable over time with the methods (or more calloused, you be the judge), and the movie leaves ambiguous how directly these methods affect the eventual outcome. One cannot watch the interrogation scenes and not at least question the appropriateness of these actions, but given the scale of the attacks on America, it certainly makes things murky at best, and the movie seems comfortable leaving it that way.
Once some of that depiction is out the way, the movie actually settles into a standard underdog movie. Maya believes that one person (Abu Ahmad) is the key to finding Bil Laden. Maya's boss (a one note character played very well by Kyle Chandler) is not only not convinced that this lead is a good one, but he doesn't even think that finding Bin Laden is that big of a deal. He feels that the attacks that the US has been under in other places show that Bin Laden is not where the CIA should be focusing. In a turning point confrontation scene, Maya asserts that all of the other battles he has been fighting are roads that lead back to Osama Bin Laden anyway. Maya is eventually able to land some key intelligence and thus begins the slow march toward that fateful night in May of 2011 when a group of Navy Seals penetrated the home where Osama Bin Laden lived. As the day of the operation draws near, Maya's obsession with catching Bin Laden takes center stage.
Many have criticized this movie as being pro torture because torture is depicted, and it leads the viewer to think that "torture" was necessary to catch Bin Laden. I don't necessarily disagree with the position, but after seeing the movie, I think it kind of misses the point. The film is depicting a world in which terrorism and interrogation exist, and doesn't spoon feed the viewer what to think of it. The world of war is a very different one. One of the reasons war is to be avoided is that it creates a myriad of moral ambiguities. Saying that interrogation of this nature is evil sort of begs the question, since war itself is evil (though I believe it can be morally justified at times-a necessary evil.) I think that the viewer needs to ask whether or not this film does a good job depicting the world in which these things happen, and I think this film does do that well.
The acting is also very good. Jessica Chastain seems to land one great role after another (the mother in "Tree of Life", the isolated housewife in "The Help"). She carries this movie very well in the put upon "against all odds" story. The supporting cast is also quite good. I thought James Gandofini truly stole the scenes he was in as CIA director Leon Panetta. All of the actors (including several actors of Middle Eastern descent) create a very effective portrait of this man hunt. I do not think this movie will be a classic, but it was very effective, and it stands out as a movie for our time. It is a story very close to all of us who have lived in the post 9/11 world.
No comments:
Post a Comment