Zero Dark Thirty

Brutal, Real, Intense and Agonizing. These are the words I would like to use to describe the awesome craft of Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty. It’s a movie that tries to convey the effort behind one of history’s most challenging man hunt. The entire process behind the United States operation that found and killed Osama bin Laden is narrated through the perspective of an individual.

The plot is basically the 10 year old journey of Maya who got into CIA soon after her high school graduation. Starting from the famous 9/11 attacks the movie traverses through all major terrorist activities that happened like the blasts in London, Camp Chapman Attack and Hotel Marriot bombing that had al-Qayeda links. Much like Hurt Locker Kathryn Bigelow has presented the setbacks faced and the military operations in a realistic and engaging way.

The political games and the frustrations of the CIA agents have been nicely incorporated in the script. The movie doesn’t really support the American style of torture. The officer Dan at one moment expresses his grief to Maya and warns her. Also they have captured the camp tortures in a brutal way. Bigelow once again tries to narrate a military related topic that also of a US military invasion.

Kathryn Bigelow follows her signature style making with less BGM’s and rough cinematography. The explosions were really hard and with so much natural sounds around, the impact were much severe. Screenplay is perfectly paced with no lags and towards the end it really had that kick to keep us engaged. The actual details were used nicely in the story and as a viewer I was able to feel the anger of Maya. VFX is realistic and superb. Cinematography of the movie is also as per the demand.

On screen, Jessica Chastain portrays Maya very elegantly. Transformation from a soft CIA trainee to a rough arguing one was quite impressive. Rest of the cast including Jason Clarke and others also did their part neatly.

If you have loved Hurt Locker, this one also will make you extremely pleased. Even though it’s a dramatization of an actual incident, the detailing will make you feel the exact emotion. I am giving 4/5 and thumbs up for this damn good man hunt.