Review of Zero Dark Thirty (2012) by Foxgrove — 27 Jan 2013
When Kathryn Bigelow went on American TV recently to address the controversy that had built up concerning the torture scenes in Zero Dark Thirty, her main defence for the film was that it is a movie and not a documentary.
This statement is fair enough in itself, but a movie is first meant to be entertainment and other considerations are secondary. A documentary, on the other hand, is first factual and then hopefully also entertaining.
Zero Dark Thirty is for the most part too complex to be easily understood from a historical point of view and, on the whole, to slow too be first rate entertainment. Even the last 30 minutes or so which shows the navy seals storming the suspected hideaway fortress of Bin Laden fails to be either as exciting or as informative as a recent documentary on the subject called ' Bin Laden: Shoot to Kill'.
For me this documentary steals Bigelows thunder with its richly detailed reconstructions and dazzling insights into the whole operation. Zero Dark Thirty, unfortunately, never gets to cinematic grips with an unsatisfactory script that whilst not pandering to its audience, nevertheless treats them with contempt by leaving out many more interesting and revelatory details than it puts in.
This review of Zero Dark Thirty (2012) was written by Foxgrove on 27 Jan 2013.
Zero Dark Thirty has generally received very positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
