Zero dark thirty is the true story of a single female cia agent jessica chastain who spent the better part of ten years focused on finding bin laden, following leads and sources many others. Zero dark thirty is available now on digital, bluray disc and dvd. Though it is the closest this film lover ever wants to come to a snuff movie, it does get one thing right. For a decade, an elite team of intelligence and military operatives, working in secret across the globe, devoted themselves to a. It is based on post 911 events, specifically centering around the decade long manhunt for the man held responsible for orchestrating the terrorist attack osama bin laden culminating in a raid at his compound in abbottabad, pakistan where osama was residing. No easy day versus zero dark thirty the hunt for osama bin laden i just got back from watching zero dark thirty. Zero dark thirty and 9 other films that the military has censored new details have emerged indicating that oscarwinning screenwriter mark boal tweaked the critically acclaimed movie at the cia. Zero dark thirty and 9 other films that the military has. That kind of ambition should be applauded, even if the movie as a whole never quite clears the very high bar it sets for itself. Cia analyst at the center of torture report is outed. It is rooted firmly in our limitations and doubts, in our feeling lost in.
Apr 10, 2016 no, zero dark thirty is not based on any book. In the publicity campaign for the movie, the director and the screenwriter have stressed that zero dark thirty was carefully researched and is factbased. The film is in contention for a best picture oscar, and it has already generated a whopping share of controversy the movie purports to be based on real events. A cia veteran on what zero dark thirty gets wrong about the. For example, early in the film, the agencys chief of station in islamabad walks around with a cia lapel pin.
Apr 14, 2017 in the days leading up to the nationwide release of zero dark thirty, the 2012 blockbuster movie about the u. What follows are two and a half hours dedicated to the agonizing extraction of. The scene you may be expecting from zero dark thirty comes at the very end of the nearly threehour film, as director kathryn bigelow precisely recreated the raid on the house in pakistan that led. Zero dark thirty, the new movie about the cias hunt for osama bin laden, premieres nationwide today.
Much of the debate has centered on whether the hurt locker director kathryn bigelows latest opus leaves viewers with the false impression that torture led to the killing of usama bin laden. Dec 19, 2012 zero dark thirty is two and a half hours long. Zero dark thirty, after earning five oscar nominations including best picture, finally went wide this past weekend and immediately shot to no. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. The movie claims that it is based on firsthand accounts of. The hunt for osama bin laden preoccupied the world and two american. On january 11, eleven years to the day after george w. In military us slang that period between midnight and dawn is referred to as oh dark hundred or sometimes zero dark hundred. It simply refers to an earlylate time of the day depending on your perspective, often referred to in a negative light. For sam brantley it was a harsh and horrific lesson in. That both the means employed and the ends achieved in. In addition to zero dark thirty, another term is zero dark hundred, or more commonly oh dark hundred, which, according to a qualified paratrooper army, airborne and former soldier mi, armor, engineer. What are the real names of the characters in zero dark thirty.
This is my design for an alternate, more minimalist zero dark thirty poster. It is based on post 911 events, specifically centering around the decade long manhunt for the man held responsible for orchestrating the terrorist attack osama bin laden culminating in a raid at. Her story is more complicated with its ties to rendition and torture, and now. It was the climax of zero dark thirty, the hollywood movie that painstakingly details the epic manhunt for the worlds mostwanted terrorist, beginning with crackling 911 recordings from the. Kathryn bigelows zero dark thirty, premiered in new york and l. Popular entertainment in post911 america by stacy takacs, explores the noble grunt based upon how the information and the media merge together to allow viewers to. About 2 months ago i read no easy day which was a first person account of the very same story by one of the members of the navy seal team 6 which captured and killed osama bin laden. In an exclusive interview with nightline, bigelow and boal talked about bringing zero dark thirty to the screen based on boals interviews and bigelows dramatic vision.
Dec 18, 2012 zero dark thirty is a darker, more painful and less certain narrative about where weve been and where were going. The cia operatives who tracked bin laden, subjects of the sundance documentary manhunt, on the liberties zero dark thirty filmmakers took adapting their stories. Jan 23, 2015 one of the tensest moments in zero dark thirty, aside from the raid on abbottabad, is a scene at camp chapman, a forward operating base in afghanistan, where one of mayas colleagues, jessica. Zero dark thirty then dramatizes september 11, 2001 aurally over a black screen a move lifted from michael moores 2004 fahrenheit 911 and thus orients everything that unfolds under the scene of lower manhattans destruction at the hand of alqaeda. A big, powerful saga of men in combat, written over the course of thirtyfive years by a highly decorated vietnam veteran. The controversy surrounding zero dark thirty has been as misguided as the film itself, which opened nationwide on friday. Zero dark thirty depicts an alqaeda detainee who, after being waterboarded, gives up the first information about a courier to osama bin laden. Jan 26, 20 the new one is based on extensive research including, apparently, direct access to key personnel in the cia. This film reunites the oscarwinning team of directorproducer kathryn bigelow and writerproducer mark boal for the story of historys greatest manhunt. Unlike other branches of the military, the marine corps required it.
A chronicle of the decadelong hunt for alqaeda terrorist leader osama bin laden after the september 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the navy s. The decision to market zero dark thirty as a thriller therefore takes a certain amount of courage, even given the fascination with this most zero and dark of deaths. First and foremost, it leaves the viewer with the erroneous impression that torture helped the cia find bin ladens hiding place in pakistan. After an intense interrogation with a possible bin laden follower at a cia black site, she and her colleagues are left at a dead end. That finished screenplay had been set aside after bin laden was killed in 2011 to focus on what became zero dark thirty. Intense, powerful, and compelling, matterhorn is an epic war novel in the. In factual terms, zero dark thirty tells the story of what andrew ohehir of salon calls the secret history of spycraft that led from sept. Jan 29, 20 the cia operatives who tracked bin laden, subjects of the sundance documentary manhunt, on the liberties zero dark thirty filmmakers took adapting their stories. Zero dark thirty is yet another, maverick look at the indochina war. The equally resonant zero dark thirty is similar tough forces jargon, combining the. Click the image to see more of my alternative spy thriller posters.
The screenplay was written by american journalistscreenwriter mark boal. So its unlikely zero dark thirty is a tellall about the events that led to the death of osama bin laden. The female officer, who is in her 30s, is the model for the main character in zero dark thirty,a film that chronicles the decadelong hunt for the alqaeda chief and that critics are. Here are four factfilled pieces from the new yorker s archives.
Zero dark thirty is a 2012 american thriller film directed by kathryn bigelow and written by mark boal. That is precisely what happened to author brantley. Osama bin laden shooter reveals what zero dark thirty. Manhunt, a documentary based on a book of the same name by peter bergen, aired on hbo wednesday evening, the twoyear anniversary of bin ladens death. Jan 20, 20 no easy day versus zero dark thirty the hunt for osama bin laden i just got back from watching zero dark thirty. Zero dark thirty 2012 frequently asked questions imdb. What we do is not like the movies will there be a movie based on your book no easy day in the future absolutely no movie being made from no east day. Zero dark thirty a brilliantly crafted drama the boston globe. Was jessica chastains character in zero dark thirty. Dec 19, 2012 but theres something perverse about approaching zero dark thirty as exciting action entertainment. Sep 01, 2002 zero dark thirty is yet another, maverick look at the indochina war. Unlike other branches of the military, the marine corps required its combat pilots in vietnam to spend time doing forward air control duty on the ground, with the troops on the front lines. A cia veteran on what zero dark thirty gets wrong about. Writer boal has stated his interest in making the original film on the 2001 tora bora hunt for bin laden that he and bigelow conceived.
The tagline is based on something dan says to one of his prisoners. Dec 14, 2012 zero dark thirty reunites the oscarwinning team of directorproducer kathryn bigelow and writerproducer mark boal 2009, best picture, the hurt locker for the story of historys greatest. In the film zero dark thirty she was known as maya, the cia analyst who spent years tracking down osama bin laden. Dec 16, 2012 the osama bin laden manhunt thriller zero dark thirty, which comes out wednesday, has already received several best picture awards from film critics groups, including the one in new york. The deceptive emptiness of zero dark thirty the new yorker. So on the sliding scale of fiction to nonfiction where exactly does zero dark thirty fall. Nearly a decade after the twin towers were destroyed by a terrorist plot, kathryn bigelows zero dark thirty attempts to directly address how the country as a whole responded to that horrific event.
For a decade, an elite team of intelligence operatives working in secret across the globe devoted themselves to a single goal. Zero dark thirty is not a military term that means 12. Nov 01, 2002 buy zero dark thirty 1 by brantley, samuel, beasley, conger, jr. The knockout punch of the movie season is being delivered by zero dark thirty. Dec 21, 2014 in the film zero dark thirty she was known as maya, the cia analyst who spent years tracking down osama bin laden. Maya is a cia operative whose first experience is in the interrogation of prisoners following the al qaeda attacks against the u. Zero dark thirty is a gripping hollywood epic, but the oscarnominated film has become best known for setting off a torrent of debate about whether torturing prisoners helped in. In zero dark thirty one if the seals yelled for a breacher. Some have decried its use of artistic license, others have commended it. A humorous way to declare an unknown time in the wee hours of the morning. The title is spyspeak for half past midnight, the time of bin ladens death. With ty hurley, susanne schraps, roy vincent, andy wolf. Zero dark thirty is a dramatized account of the decadelong hunt for osama bin laden following the september 2001 terrorist attacks in the united states. No easy day versus zero dark thirty the hunt for osama.
Jun 19, 20 the big short 6 jared vennetts pitch to front point partners jenga blocks scene duration. Essay on zero dark thirty is a movie loosely based on. Bush sent the first detainees to guantanamo, the oscarnominated film zero dark thirty is making its national debut. The movie zero dark thirty is a fictional account, loosely based on the finding and killing of osama bin laden and his associates. Its not homeland, either, even if maya, the cia agent played by jessica chastain and apparently based on an actual operative, bears a. Zero dark thirty and the mysterious killing of osama bin.
Even in zero dark thirty, the filmmakers have admitted that their protagonist, the dogged, flamehaired cia agent, is based on a real person but was also a composite. With jessica chastain, joel edgerton, chris pratt, mark strong. Essay on zero dark thirty is a movie loosely based on osama bin laden 749 words 3 pages summaryplot. The hot button behind zdt was that policy of the marines in vietnam requiring fighter pilots to serve time on the ground as grunts. Zero dark thirty was released on dvd and bluray disc on march 19, 20. The scene is based on a true incidentan attack on a cia forward operating base in khowst in december 2009. Zero dark thirty summary and analysis paper studocu. But it is a wellmade, captivating, intense procedural about some of the key events that.
Bikowskys career and personality were the main models for the character maya portrayed by actress jessica chastain in the film zero dark thirty 2012, although maya is a composite character of several women involved in finding osama bin laden. This search leads to the discovery of his compound in pakistan and the military raid that resulted in bin ladens death on may 2, 2011. The film dramatizes the nearly decadelong international manhunt for alqaeda leader osama bin laden after the september 11 attacks. And though jessica chastains character is called maya in zero dark thirty the movie is based on original reporting by screenwriter mark boalshe is, in fact, playing the woman. Jan 25, 20 osama bin laden movie zero dark thirty may be an entertaining film, but it fails to capture the true nature of the work of those involved in his hunt and capture, according to three former cia. Especially used by military personnel to describe an unwanted time to be awake or awaken. The final act of zero dark thirty depicts the abbottabad raid. Osama bin laden is dead, which everybody knows, and the principal facts leading up to that are also wellknown. But perhaps because its based on such recent events, kathryn bigelow s zero dark thirty has attracted more than its fair share of controversy over its portrayal of the hunt for osama bin laden. Director kathryn bigelows gripping drama zero dark thirty is much more than a nailbiting playbyplay of the topsecret mission to kill.