The Hollywood blockbuster, "Zero Dark Thirty" premiered in 2012 and became an instant hit. Ever since its release, the film stirred a great deal of media debate as it was not just about killing of bin Laden and the film makers, but involved foreign-policy, political and national-security journalists and the use of torture. Ever since the 9/11, America lives under the threat of another such attack. There have been a string of documentaries and films on the subject of government secrecy and counterterrorism programs. There are tough questions about how far should the US be willing to go in the battle against terrorism. "Zero Dark Thirty" stirs up the controversial role of the CIA and its program plus the enhanced interrogation techniques to combat terrorism (Taddonio 2015). Arguments There has been a lot written about in favor of and against the film. The main debate surrounding “Zero Dark Thirty" is about the CIA working secretly with the filmmakers and how they portray the use of torture by the agency to get information. The essay looks into the nature of the media debate over Zero Dark Thirty and what are the prime issues that led to those debates as well as responses from the creators of the film, the media, and the senators. While many support the film and the use of historical accuracy in works of fiction, others are skeptical about the role of directors and screenwriters and what is their obligation towards informing or misinforming their audiences about historical event.
“Zero Dark Thirty”
Kathryn Bigelow has done a brilliant direction in “Zero Dark Thirty”, the fictional account of the search for Osama bin Laden. The blockbuster film raises some important ethical questions about the enhanced interrogation techniques of CIA and sparks a discussion over the moral responsibilities of a filmmaker. The twisted road to Bin Laden’s capture plot is a continuous mix of truth and drama. What makes it one of the most important American fiction movies is that it relates to Sept. 11 and revolves around the moral costs of revenge. Another reason why the movie has garnered so much interest is that there are very few fiction films about Sept. 11 (Dargis 2012). The first 45 minutes of “Zero Dark Thirty" bombards your mind and soul with the torturous scenes based on ignorance and brutality. The bloodied scenes of the humiliated man forced to have some liquid down his throat and shoved into a tiny box hunt one for a long time. It leaves one unprepared and nauseated as to how many people must have been tortured by CIA in their hunt for Osama bin and the amount of intelligence they were able to retrieve (Ackerman 2012).
Justifying the torturous scenes in “Zero Dark Thirty”
What makes “Zero Dark Thirty” different is that it doesn’t present torture as the ignorant alternative. CIA torture programs discard the notion that it was torture that led to bin Laden. It is the dedicated CIA agents, represented by “Maya,” whose works actually helped to hunt bin, Laden. The real intelligence of CIA agent comes in through extensive surveillance and manhunt. The whole case is not based on one abused detainee, who could not possibly have all the information demanded by CIA (Ackerman 2012). There is no doubt that Zero Dark Thirty scenes can be deeply unsettling for the audience, but at the same time, it presents a meticulous re-creation of the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Maya, whose youth and inexperience are real assets in the information age and uses her strategy to make way through the treacherous puzzles of suicide bombers and coded names. She is desperate for a link to bin Laden and known when she confronts an outdated Cold War logic. There is a long sequence in the deadly raid and how the brave soldiers give the film a classic thriller climax. (Zero Dark Thirty 2013).
There had been a much-publicized debate in the media about the movie even before its release. The arguments centered around if using torture was seen to be an effective tool to get to the information and Osama bin Laden. While the key senators and experts agree upon that torture did not play a significant role in reaching bin Laden, they fail to see a far more important and troubling spot in the film, and it is the embedded journalism (Maass 2012). Unlike other such movies, Zero Dark Thirty is a recent event and still every scene of the film can be questioned for its fact or fiction.
“The Obama administration has claimed that torture played no part in tracking down bin Laden,” (Dargis 2012).
One should be reminded that this is not a documentary but a movie. The basic problem is that the government is able to get away by offering privileged access to get a great story carefully in return. It is deeply troubling to know that not every journalist or filmmaker is able to get those special invitations. The government does its best to keep journalists at bay from getting to the unflattering stories that are often told by resentful officials. This is why one gets to see results such as Zero Dark Thirty, which is a mix of fact and fiction. One cannot imagine filmmakers or journalists creating a story that is less favorable to the CIA (Maass 2012).
”When you lie to me,” he says, ”I hurt you.” (Zero Dark Thirty 2013). One finds the mantra, repeated in the film and it sends the message that the agency veteran is not a sadist.
Criticizing the violence in “Zero Dark Thirty”
Kathryn Bigelow's movies have always been captivating and Zero Dark Thirty simply blew away is the audience. The movie is a compelling thriller based on a real-life subject matter and the greatest action-movie plot of all times. Still, some questions start bothering one about the movie. For example, the enhanced interrogation scene from the opening is enough to tell as to how those heroes get their information from. Maya character looks on in a shocking disgust but takes it all in with a stony silence (Taibbi 2013).
According to Bigelow, despite the unprovable effectiveness of the interrogations, omitting them from "Zero Dark Thirty" would have only meant a moral cowardice (Taibbi 2013). Still, it is equally immoral to leave out how generally ineffective was the torture and how it has enraged the entire Arab world. One cannot shut their eyes to the torture displayed in “Zero Dark Thirty” and how it helped to catch Osama bin Laden. No matter how justified it may be, it never gets a public approval. The only whiff of morality one sees in the film is where Maya looks a little troubled by Clarke's methods, but minutes later she is out on the streets in a hijab, ready to throw fists at her suspects.
A whole of time was spent between the CIA, and the screenwriter and the director of the film on peddling a version of the distasteful "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" program (Taibbi 2013). On the other hand, it is unlikely that bin Laden would have been found without torture. Thus, there's a whole lot of reality in the plot of Zero Dark Thirty technically speaking. Still, it is how the torture has been depicted and without perspective. The movie seems to celebrate the use of torture, and it is getting nominated for Oscars. However, this is a global era, and it is essential to think about how the movie will get received by the audiences in the Middle East.
The European Court of Human Rights issued a momentous ruling that condemns the C.I.A.’s treatment of a terror suspect as “torture.” It is ironical to see “Zero Dark Thirty” heading towards Oscar nominations and raising questions if torture can be used for a morally neutral entertainment (Mayer 2012). One can accuse “Zero Dark Thirty” for presenting a false publicity for waterboarding as well as endorsing torture. The scenes of torture seem to go on and on while other sevens on other ways of receiving info such as enticing sources with expensive race cars last only a few minutes. Obviously, makers of the film are storytellers, and one cannot expect them to convey the history accurately (Mayer 2012).
“However unprovable the effectiveness of these interrogations, they did take place. To omit them from "Zero Dark Thirty" would have been a reprehensible act of moral cowardice.” (Taibbi 2013).
“Zero Dark Thirty” sparked off the political and ethical debate regarding its use of torture program for drama. The debate echoes the moral significance of the political dilemma and how the hunt for bin Laden is devoid of moral context. The director of the film defends her work that it has not been made to take sides or judge (Mayer 2012). When interviewed, she agrees that the scenes were unsentimental and graphic, the film does not solely focus on torture and shows it as just one of the many ways to gather information and intelligence.
Despite those views and comments, it is true that “Zero Dark Thirty” does not arrest the intricacy of the debate about America’s brutal detention program. More importantly, there is not a single scene in the film that questions the brutality and torture. The only baseline of moral awareness one sees is the delicate wincing of the heroine of the film, shown as the C.I.A. officer Maya (Mayer 2012).
The film seems to accept that it was C.I.A.’s “enhanced interrogation techniques” that played a major role in reaching bin Laden. Still, there are contrary accounts of C.I.A. officers and senators with access stating that it was not the torture that led to finding bin Laden. Republicans have criticized the movie’s plot and disagree that the torture can lead to any reliable information in just about any case (Mayer 2012). It is also true that there is very little public information about the C.I.A.’s and it is almost impossible for the outsiders to assess the facts and show them with such confidence. There have been cases where inmates have been tortured to death without revealing any information or those who have fabricated disinformation.“If journalists had received the same access as Boal and Bigelow, I would be a bit less troubled. But as it stands, we're getting the myth of history before getting the actual history.” (Maass 2012).
Conclusion
Zero Dark Thirty is no doubt a brilliant work but it is frustrating to see the government's skill in getting its story told so uncritically time and time again. The makers of the film have time and again stressed that this is a movie and not a documentary. Still, it is based on a real-life subject and a very sensitive one. The audience is told in the very beginning that they are about to see a story based on actual events and first-hand accounts. The filmmakers themselves set the expectations of the accuracy, and they try to remain free from the responsibility of the truth under the creative license of fiction. The movie no doubt grips the audiences, but most of them may not be sure about if they are supposed to cheer at the end of the film. It is ludicrous to imagine that the viewers will not identify the winners in the end as the torturers too.
The enhanced interrogation techniques presented in the film raise questions if there can be more reliable and humane ways to obtain information. Showing such techniques in a film should be handled sensitively, and one should keep the global audience in mind. Legal or not, those interrogation techniques betraying the moral values, no matter what they are called. Bin Laden may be victorious after all to see an incredible movie turning him into a hero and celebrating his death. That is what makes the whole thing pathetic and shows that he was perhaps right about Americans and their tortuous methods.
Terrorism is a global threat and a sensitive issue at the same time. Zero Dark Thirty is about the CIA's decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden, and the subject should have been handled sensitively. Many government officials have disputed what the film implies and its version of events that it was the what the film implies that led to the operation against Usama bin Laden. Whether the film constitutes an accurate historical presentation or not, the way it has shown tortuous scenes, it is no surprise to see a row of controversies sparked by the film. There may be factual inaccuracies within the film, but those are expected from a two-and-a-half-hour feature film that covers a time span of ten years. The director and screenwriter do carry a responsibility to be faithful to the material, but at the same time, they carry moral and ethical responsibilities on their shoulders. Needless to say, the debate on the particulars of the intelligence hunt will continue, and experts may keep on arguing sharply on the torture methods employed in the early years of the hunt. One cannot ignore that part of the military action and if it is free of moral consequences. Still, the movie presents serious ethical dilemmas about the prisoners, their pain and humiliation and what kind of artistic licenses do filmmakers carry to portray such sensitive issues.
Works Cited
Ackerman, Spencer. " Two Cheers for Zero Dark Thirty’s Torture Scenes." wired. 2012. Web. 16 June. 2016.
Dargis, Manohla. "By Any Means Necessary." nytimes. 2012. Web. 16 June. 2016.
Maass, Peter. "Don't Trust 'Zero Dark Thirty'." theatlantic. 2012. Web. 16 June. 2016.
Taddonio, Patrice. " How the CIA helped make 'Zero Dark Thirty' — and shape the torture debate." Public Radio International. 2015. Web. 16 June. 2016.
Taibbi, Matt. " Zero Dark Thirty' Is Osama bin Laden's Last Victory Over America." rollingstone. 2013. Web. 16 June. 2016.
"Zero Dark Thirty." ew.com. 2013. Web. 16 June. 2016.
Mayer, Jane. " Zero Conscience In “Zero Dark Thirty." newyorker. 2012. Web. 16 June. 2016.
