And that's what led me to "Zero Dark Thirty." A film that I probably would not have seen otherwise. I mean, I read the newspapers the day after Osama Bin Laden was killed. I went over the minute-by-minute accounts. I saw the well-publicized snapshot of the White House war room grimly watching the events unfold in real time---a photograph that, given the phoniness of Washington DC these days, was probably choreographed a week later.
So, for all those reasons, I didn't expect anything new in this movie. But, surprisingly, what I got was...
A bonus episode of "Homeland."
Huh, you say?
Read on, I say.
Now it was well publicized that the CIA and the White House opened up the file cabinet and shared proprietary information to film director Kathryn Bigelow so this saga could be told on the big screen. But, from those folders and undisputed facts, a plot and script is crafted that so resembles "Homeland" that I was waiting for Clare Danes and Mandy Patinkin to make cameo appearances. All this publicity and frenzy for something I've seen before?
Hmmm....
Jessica Chastain is Maya, the heroine of the piece and she looks like a a direct descendent of Opie Taylor from "The Andy Griffith Show.". A CIA operative that is bound and determined to nail Osama Bin Laden. She is so focused on this that it consumes her entire life.
Sound familiar, you Homeland watchers out there?
Maya gets some leads and also some dead ends in her quest. Of course, along the way, she relentlessly badgers her superiors to keep up the search even though they pretty much have thrown their hands up.
Sound familiar, you Homeland watchers out there?
Eventually, she gets some solid information and begins to figure out that Bin Laden is not living in a cave but a house that probably passes for a luxury condo in that area of the world. She begins to press her bosses with this lead and wants them to do something about it immediately. But they don't listen to her.
Sound familiar, you Homeland watchers out there?
The parallels stop just short of Maya actually sleeping with Osama in a motel. Which, of course, would have spiced up the whole movie as far as I was concerned. Because, with its two-and-a-half-hour-plus running time, there are long stretches of nothingness. Watching somebody have sex while attached to a dialysis machine certainly would have woken me up.
Now maybe all of this happened just as the government documents laid it out. But it all seems too Hollywood script-contoured. And the dovetails to Homeland are likely more than pure coincidence. Of course, screenwriter Mark Boal says it's all true and there really is a Maya. We just can't know for sure because, after all, she still works for the CIA and is undercover.
Hmmm....
Don't get me wrong. Literary license is often a necessary outlet when you try to make a movie out of a historical event. But, the filmmakers involved here are bending over backwards to tell you that this all played out exactly as depicted. Why don't you just admit the obvious? You made a film and you needed it to fall into the specific guidelines of entertainment featured down at the multiplex on Route 504 in Bumfuk, Indiana.
There's also been a lot of handwringing about the scenes of torture shown in the film. For me, it was a wonderful introduction to Waterboarding 101. Ah, so that's how it's done? I say, bring it on. These enemies have no qualms taking American prisoners and beheading them on local television. If this waterboarding is deemed sadistic, I would argue it could be a lot worse. And, yes, I absolutely believe we used it and that it was successful. I mean, we killed Bin Laden, right? Bravo.
So, "Zero Dark Thirty" gets a lot of Oscar buzz, but, ultimately, doesn't get as many nominations as folks expected. People are thinking that this is a gut reaction to the scenes of torture. I am thinking that it's simply because viewers have seen it all before. Sunday nights on Showtime. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with giving us a reheated episode of Homeland, please don't go out of your way to tell us that it's not what we're getting.
As a movie, "Zero Dark Thirty" is flawed, too long, and a bit overdirected. But, at its conclusion, Osama Bin Laden is still dead. And that's worth all the Raisinets in the world.
Dinner last night: Leftover ravioli.
1 comment:
I prefer Homeland to Zero Dark Thirty. Decent movie, but long. As for the torture, i didnt hear an outcry when they waterboarded Denzel in Safe House.
Post a Comment