Preview

On the Film Zero Dark Thirty and Torture

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1587 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
On the Film Zero Dark Thirty and Torture
‘The Lousiest Manhunt in History’ by Katrina Isabel V. Trillana

Zero Dark Thirty is a 2013 film directed by award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow, and is a narration about the multiple time-skips of how Maya (Jessica Chastain), a new CIA recruit, beat the odds which led to Osama Bin Laden’s ultimate death.
“Our plane’s been hijacked. I hope I can be able to see your face again, baby. I love you! Goodbye!” were lines from the actual 9/11 audio footage at the beginning of the film and from that, I thought that Zero Dark Thirty would be an emotionally-touching action-packed movie. Because of an exciting plot, I expected it to be a thrilling film but it turned out to be despicably monotonous.
Set in the bustling streets and the danger-prone areas of the Middle East, the set design became largely influential to the film, and it added to the viewer’s experience. However, if I hadn’t known that the movie was directed by Academy-Award winner, Kathryn Bigelow, I would have thought that this was directed by an unknown director. The chapter-by-chapter time skip actually took the plot away from the movie -- it became choppy and incomprehensible. One moment we see Ammar (Reda Kateb) being tortured, and then in the next screen, it’s suddenly two years later. The only commendable action scene in the movie being Osama Bin Laden’s ambush, the plot seemed to drag as we see more conversations and less action than what we expected to see.
The movie poster also said that the writer, Mark Boal, is an Academy award-winning screenwriter but it puzzles me how he actually got the information about the happenings when CIA operations are supposed to be undisclosed. Why would the scriptwriter just

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    A History of Violence

    • 646 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The horror on the screen was only matched by the horrifying look on my fellow movie goers' faces. While I am not familiar with David Cronenberg's work watching this one film quickly acclimated me to his extreme methods of capturing reality. Many of the images projected on the screen evoked such a visceral reaction that the emotions of the characters seemed to live vicariously through the audience. What this movie lacked in plot it more than made up for in character development and excellent cinematography.…

    • 646 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ca Twiste a Popenguine

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Absa's use of untrained actors/actresses works well in this film by giving it a flavor of reality. I would recommend this movie to anyone interested in seeing things from a non-western point of view or anyone wanting to see how different cultures interact and intertwine. If you do not like subtitled/foreign films, I would not recommend this movie unless you have a grasp of the French language. There is some fun poked at the differences involving Islam and Christianity, so if you are not tolerant or can't find humor in religion, you may be slightly offended.…

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Khaled Hosseini's novel The Kite Runner has a story which contrasts that of the film Osama, directed by Saddiq Barmak. While Amir is living the high life in a wealthy Kabul…

    • 83 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The overarching theme of Kite Runner is redemption. Taking that in the violence and misery incorporated in the book was necessary. With its use a realistic picture of Afghanistan and decisions that could lead to regret one almost forgets it’s a work of fiction. The violence, especially regarding the rape of Hassan and Sohrab, was written so detailed that it leaves scars on the reader. It fully captures the readers and embeds the feeling of guilt Amir holds, into ones conscience. It is almost as if the readers themselves is Amir instead of just following his story line.…

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    As the movie continues, so does the conflict between different nationalities. A Persian store owner and his daughter were attempting to…

    • 1146 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Over a period of time, specific audiences construct expectations of different types of media, related to either what they have been told, or perhaps what the media have exposed them to in the past. Indeed, it could be argued that the success of a film to a large degree, rests on whether or not such expectations are met, surpassed, else the audience successfully surprised. Certainly, such expectations have to be addressed by the film, if it is to be considered satisfying for the audience, and in this way, elements within the film, such as character representations, the narrative and cinematography are all important components which allow this to be achieved. Additionally, the social and political context in which the film is being viewed must be considered, as it is against this background that their expectations will have been formed.…

    • 3110 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    With only fifteen to sixteen years of age, Wiesel continuously encountered pure torture. From being senselessly abused to unceasingly overworked, there was not a day where Wiesel could sleep with a light heart. “I happened to cross his path. He threw himself on me like a wild beast, beating me in the chest, on my head, throwing me to the ground and picking me up again, crushing me with ever more violent blows, until I was covered in blood” (“Night” 53). As a result of running into an angry SS officer, Wiesel first-hand encountered pure rage and torture. Being beaten senseless, regardless if you were a child or not, was not uncommon in the concentration camps. Although Wiesel was only fourteen years old, he endured consecutive blows from a grown…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Unquestionable, the Turner Diaries does portray terrorist actions in the form of typical tactics and structures that does provide the ‘terrorist handbook’ identity as accurate. The novel details the construction of a bomb that is used by Turner's guerrilla unit at a FBI headquarters, killing hundreds and crippling the System’s intelligence operations. Guerrilla warfare, which is designed “to cause fear among civilians,” does indeed showcase how the Turner Diaries is a platform for terrorist actions.…

    • 550 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Argument Essay About Argo

    • 394 Words
    • 2 Pages

    * The painstaking period details, and mimicked video footage is meant to lend a scent of authenticity to a CIA personnel expatriation that did happen, but much of the villain-at-their-heels tension was fabricated. Poetic license might excuse drama, were it not for the added perk of vilifying, parodying and humiliating a people.…

    • 394 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dehumanization and torture, two simple words to ruin the lives of many people. Some people chose this for evil, Hitler, for instance, an intelligent young man and very powerful man, used different tragedies to take control over all Jewish people. He used concentration camps, one of his biggest and most successful camps. Night by Elie Wiesel, Tattoo and Shearing and System of Death both by Michael Berenbaum will define all the ways Jews were tortured and killed.…

    • 561 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The characters make you feel as if they are portraying their country, getting away from the outrageousness and the terror. Sharing their side of the horrific stories. All distributing the same emotions betrayal and being forced to look the other way. The choreographer immersed herself into the stories of the young people who had overcome the sacrifice of fleeing their country to have freedom in Australia. Cadi McCarthy clearly and successfully got her intent to the target audience (young students) expressing the dreadful descriptions by educating us through contemporary and hip hop…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The film felt like a visual representation of 1984 with myriad similarities in the ministry of information and the total control, but at the same time, total chaos. I was most intrigued and provoked by the representation of terrorists in the film and the innocent people caught in the crossfire. There is a clear connection between that representation as no one really ever finds out who the terrorists are and the current climate today in representing refugees as terrorists. This paranoia and fear of the other is instilled by the government and justifies their information regime. In a repressive regime like in Brazil, the government uses terrorists as a threat, seen in Helpmann’s speech in the beginning, to vacate responsibility for the lack of…

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Noi the Albino

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The film Noi the Albino, written and directed by Dagur Kari, is centered on a teenage misfit, in a small fishing town, who fantasizes of hopeless plans to get out of his white hell. This incredible film is a ten year, work of art; made up of original music by the director’s band, Slowblow, and the intentionally boring, unprofessional actors. Although Noi, himself, is fascinatingly bright, he lacks potential to keep him in school and on the right track. This film, is by far one of the most bleak, uneventful films, but it is the lack of substantiality of virtually nothing happening, that projects the mood and emotion in such a powerful way that it “seeps into our bones and makes us sympathize” with Noi (Zwick).…

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    And then there’s a bit of drama in between. Writer/director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is so exceedingly proud of every individual environmental image that he has painstakingly captured on film, but his efforts are to such a point of artistic distraction that he’s forgotten to tell a story. As an overabundance of running time is spent gorging on the stunning elements of dense forests and icy plains and sparkling rivers all basking in natural light, there’s no room left in the immense 156-minute production for any semblance of…

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    This leads onto the subject concerning the acting. Being at times monotonous and bland, it lacks the emotion and punch that the book delivered. However, I remarked that the producers added music that gives an effect of mystery and suspense (a bit repetitive). This helps bring out the suspense.…

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays