Zero Dark Thirty : What I missed the first time!
Yeah. I know. It’s a great depiction!
DISCLAIMER : Haven’t read any reviews or other fan-theories. Not sure about it’s historical accuracy. But. What the hell. I have certain views and I’m going to write about it. ALSO. There MIGHT be SPOILERS. I know it’s an old movie but a lot folks out there haven’t watched it till now. So. Folks. Don’t blame me later on. Let’s roll!
Zero Dark Thirty is an American political-thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal. It is about the nearly decade long manhunt for Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. I am sure you have heard of him before. If not, then you can find more about him over here.
I watched this movie in 2013 right after it released. I had to crawl through it. I took a lot of breaks in between that 2 hour 36 min span. I couldn’t finish it one go. I fell asleep twice while watching it. It was damn long. I know these are just excuses!
Anyway. I watched it again today. I think it is ONE HELL OF A FILM. I haven’t read the novel so can’t quite comment on it and it’s correlation to the movie.
One thing I did while watching the movie was jot down a few lines which somewhat struck out to me. I will expound on these lines a bit as I move along.
In the end, everybody breaks bro. It’s biology.
This was uttered by the interrogator few minutes into the film. It basically shows that no matter what kind of gruelling training humans go through, we can’t resist beyond a certain point. It reminds us that, after all we are just mortals.
I’m gonna smoke everybody involved in this op and then I’m gonna kill Bin Laden
So, smoke here means kill and op means operations. Explanation for the newbies, of course. The protagonist tells this to one of her teammates upon being asked what she is gonna do. This hateful vibe looming in the atmosphere is pretty evident and is due to a personal loss of the lead character. Sometimes, emotions play a vital role in certain developments. That can be both a good thing and a bad thing. Well, in this case it was a good thing. So, to speak.
I’m the motherfucker that found this place, sir.
I think this is the line which stood out especially for me in the film. The lead agent blurts this line out to the Director of the CIA. She tells this in a really assertive way. It shows that the difficult task was indeed carried out by her. The ‘motherfucker’ part was just an overstatement to show her boss, who is boss. And the ending with sir, is icing on the cake. It doesn’t matter how much of a big-shot you are, hierarchy matters everywhere. At least, that’s my take on it.
The President is a thoughtful, analytical guy. He needs proof.
The movie was made a few years back. So. Yeah. The statement was applicable for that era. Not sure as of now. What it means that even if you are at the top of an institution, your decisions have to be based on some logic if not entirely. Data, facts are the elementary things that play a key role in major decisions.
Technically, these dont exist.
This specific line was for a bunch of helicopters. Once again, this single line reminds us that this was a portrayal of a real incident and some parts could have been exaggerated. It also shows the tendency of Hollywood to go overboard sometimes. But to be honest, there’s absolutely no harm in that. These kind of lines is what keeps the audience engaged most of the times. So. Kudos to that.
100%. Okay, 95% because I know certainty freaks you guys out. But, it’s a 100%.
Jessica Chastain says this specific line on being asked what are the chances of UBL (Usama Bin Laden — That’s what they called him in the film) being present in a specific location. It’s a pretty funny line. Nothing is certain. Well, almost nothing. But. What makes something certain is our intuition. That is the most underrated element in decision making. Don’t want to go all philosophical on this shit, but yeah. Intuition matters!
You must be pretty important. You got the whole plane to yourself.
When the time finally arose for Maya (Jessica Chastain’s character) to head back, there was a Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey waiting for her. At least, a similar looking aircraft if not that. The pilot having no clue who she was or what she did utters those lines. This tells us that the planet is filled with great people. Specific traits don’t define who you are. To put it simply, it’s definitely not wise to judge a book by it’s cover.
These are a few lines that caught my attention. There are definitely more. Feel free to find out.
One thing I really liked was Jessica Chastain’s character. From the start, she wasn’t exactly hard-ass but surely developed into one. With time. She lost few of her close teammates, almost got killed herself and screamed at her own boss ( Don’t try that in real life :P). She had a quirky way of reminding a senior member. She used to write a number everyday on her boss’s glass cabin showing the number of days inaction pursued. I don’t know how many of us would do that in real life. Not a lot, I guess.
Anyway, that specific act demonstrated a painful truth. No matter how noble the cause, bureaucracy and red-tapism surely cause a lot of hassles. The presence of them is a must, but it doesn’t always benefit the right-doer.
Last but not the least, I think the moral intake from the movie for me was that it took Maya 10 painstaking years to get what she wanted. The road wasn’t easy at all and there was a time when she almost gave up. But, she didn’t. She wanted to get there and she did. The image which is at the beginning of this piece is the last scene in the movie. She was asked, where does she wants to go. Tears just rolled down her cheeks, marking the end of her long strenuous journey. For now she just wanted to home!
I think it can be summarised as:
If there’s a will there’s a way.
But then again, I might be looking too much into it……
