Review of Zero Dark Thirty (2012) by Igster — 03 Feb 2013

The CIA trained and funded Bin Laden as part of their effort to create militant Islamic ideology to combat the Soviet Union and Marxism back in the 70s and 80s. This agency gleefully provided torture coaching and assistance to Pinochet and the Argentinian Junta. It concocted false evidence and testimonies in the run up to both of the Gulf wars, and has been further destroying America's reputation worldwide for over a decade by torturing and murdering its way through the Middle East. And now it has somehow been allowed to make an undisputed, seemingly authoritative account of history in a way that both serves as PR for the CIA, but also makes a serious case to absolve the agency of its crimes by pointing to their utilitarian necessity.

Imagine a film about a serial killer, who in the early stages of his life, and indeed throughout his initial murders is trained, and assisted both in tactics and funding by the cops, the good guys who spend the rest of the film chasing the killer and finally capturing him. It would make you feel conflicted, and would raise questions about who the 'good' guys are, and just how 'good' they happen to be. Now consider how Zero Dark Thirty avoids the difficult task of confronting the reality. It relies on ostentatious badassery aimed at teenage boys who think the word must be met with obligatory laughter. It strives to induce war-nerd boners among cargo-pant wearing gamers. And it reduces a contentious moment in U.S.history, the true events of which is kept under lock and key by an agency apparently incapable of acting morally or even legally, to your common or garden variety of detective fiction.