Zero Dark Thirty

[canuckcutie]

I can't wait to see this.

Deadline Hollywood Daily is reporting an Academy member (somebody whose name I don't recognize) who is being very vocal about not voting for the film and urging others to do the same because he says it promotes torture and makes heroes out of Americans who commit torture. Thoughts from those who have seen it?

[lpatrice]

Jan 11, 2013 22:22:57 GMT -4 canuckcutie said:

I can't wait to see this.

Deadline Hollywood Daily is reporting an Academy member (somebody whose name I don't recognize) who is being very vocal about not voting for the film and urging others to do the same because he says it promotes torture and makes heroes out of Americans who commit torture. Thoughts from those who have seen it?

I had the same concerns before seeing it. However, I came out of the movie with the belief that this film does not support torture. If you have actually pay attention to everything and the little details - the movie shows that torture does not work. None of information gained from torture turned out to be very valuable or useful. People will say anything when they are being tortured.

I think the other real lesson in the movie is that our government organizations are bogged down by protocol and lack of creative thinking/ideas.

[Deleted]

As Kathryn Bigelow said, "depiction is not endorsement." I know it's been quoted all over the place, but it's true. Having seen the movie I don't think it's overtly pro- or anti-torture. It just...is. Torture happened during interrogations and to have left it out would have been wrong.

On a lighter note, I was pleasantly surprised to see Jennifer Ehle in this. Her American accent has improved a bit since Contagion.

[ijustworkhere]

I just saw this and I'm speechless. Best film I've seen all year, hands down. Wow.

I agree with those who say that, if anything, it's anti-torture. The movie specifically shows how they only get actionable intelligence from guys who have either stopped being tortured or never were tortured at all.

I'll have more to say later when I'm not so shellshocked from the awesome, but honestly the only thing that comes to mind right now is what a fucking travesty it is that Bigelow wasn't nominated for an Oscar.

[bklynred]

I saw it again today. I still got jumpy. It was the damn music!

[canuckcutie]

Surely it would be worse if they left out Guantanamo and torture? Then the filmakers would be accused of white washing history would they not?

I have to see Life of Pi before it leaves theatres before I can see ZDT. Trying to see any many oscar nominated pics as possible.

[bklynred]

Agreed, canuck. It's hard to watch but it is what it is.

[ijustworkhere]

Surely it would be worse if they left out Guantanamo and torture? Then the filmakers would be accused of white washing history would they not?

I totally agree, and this is what I keep thinking when I read people's objections to the torture scenes. If they'd left out the fact that prisoners were tortured, there would have been a huge furor. Yet by portraying the torture as it was, they're somehow endorsing it? I find it to be a really superficial reading of not only the film but of storytelling in general.

[Baby Fish Mouth]

I saw this yesterday. Didn't quite live up to my expectations, and I can't put my finger on why. I had no problem with how the torture was portrayed and I thought the raid sequence was brilliant. I didn't connect with Jessica Chastain's character or her motivations very well. I think if her character had been fleshed out a little more it would have helped.

At any rate, I remember liking The Hurt Locker much more.

[GinFizz]

I just saw on the poster this movie has my husband Kyle Chandler it it, so it's definitely jumped on my Oscar "to-see" list.

(Does one's positive reaction to this movie depend on whether one agrees it was right for the US to go in and kill Bin Laden, though?)