with red marker on the office window? The most difficult aspect of Zero Dark Thirty, the Kathryn Bigelow/Mark Boal dramatization of the ten year search for Osama bin Ladin, is not that the film depicts torture as a tool utilized by the United States of America, but that torture was used in reality, necessitating its appearance in fiction.The myth of American innocence is inexplicably powerful given the bulk of American history . the pilot asks, but Maya doesn't reply. the inspiration for the character played by Danes, an actual CIA officer whom she has met at Langley, a class-action suit involving sex discrimination, hired women analysts almost exclusively in the 1990s, changed or eroded to protect her identity. Edit. While there, Danes met in the hallway the man who was the head of the Pakistani division and had just returned to the U.S. (after the killing of Osama bin Laden)., Danes doesnt draw any line between that mission and her characters (loose) inspiration, and it is possible, of course, that the man just happened to walk by. There is a very clear line between an interrogator and a debriefer, she said. While the SEALs are unloading and categorizing the tapes, hard drives, and other intelligence materials that they seized from the compound, Maya is led to the body bag. After seven CIA operatives are killed in a suicide double-cross at Camp Chapman, Afghanistan-including (in a move as old as Homer) her only near-friend (Jennifer Ehle)--it's not Vin Diesel but Maya who pledges, "I'm going to smoke everyone involved in this op, and . In the 2012 Hollywood hit Zero Dark Thirty, a red-haired Central Intelligence Agency analyst played by Jessica Chastain travels to a secret CIA prison and watches a colleague waterboard a screaming al-Qaida suspect, then lock him in a box a little bigger than a mini-fridge, to make him talk. Why did she accept? If Zero Dark Thirty is a roller-coaster ride, its one with blinkers, one that keeps its viewer facing forward and allows no glance away from the action. For instance: there were plenty of explosions worldwide in the decade that followed September 11, 2001. Scheuer retired in 2021 as the Deputy Chief of Homeland and Strategic Threats, and in her subsequent interview (which was also the first interview she had ever done), she clarified that she had not been let go but had left the CIA on her own accord. For five years, she becomes obsessed to find Osama and in 2011, the terrorist leader of Al-Qaeda is killed by the U.S. Navy SEAL Team following the lead of Maya. Im proud that I wasnt on the sidelines. A former CIA member who was branded the 'queen of torture' and was the inspiration for the movie Zero Dark Thirty is now an online beauty influencer - and is selling coaching sessions for $600. The narrative centers on the elusive al-Qaeda head, Osama bin Laden, in the aftermath of the September 2001 terrorist attacks. The movie is exciting to watchthe director, Kathryn Bigelow, and the screenwriter, Mark Boal, organize the action to maximize suspense, subjecting Maya to a range of dangers and, at the point when she thinks that she has circumstantially located bin Laden, starting the equivalent of a ticking clock that stokes the thrills even more. With the exception of Bissonnette and Nicholas Cheque, who was killed in December 2012 during a rescue mission in Afghanistan, the squads members remain anonymous. Something went wrong. For two decades Scheuer was a central figure in some of the major controversies of Americas war on Islamist extremist groups, including secret detention centers and brutal interrogations. 1 3. The movie stays resolutely on the surface of events; Bigelow presents them as if their depiction sufficed for something more than a storynamely, for a moral questioning of the viewer, of the viewers judgment of the past decade of American politics in the wake of the September 11th attacks. December 28, 2012. (His marriage to a Muslim woman was the catalyst for this conversion.) Oscar for best picture. Therefore military helicopter flights overhead were not necessarily unusual, they could have chalked it up to an army night exercise. Its an exciting, skillfully crafted, vigorously realized film, but also a renunciation of the fuller possibilities of cinema in favor of a dully narrowed, debased op-ed political discourse of pros and cons, that enters the public debate by the rigorous exclusion of sex and ideology, intimate desires and grandiose dreams, family and friends, secrets and lies, the constantly streaming phantasmagoria of inner life. Won Academy Award for Best Sound Editing, many other Nominations. What we are shown is the apparent sheer will to destroy the United States and its allies, as suggested (only by implication) by the depictions of attacks in London, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and the failed attack in Times Square in 2010. Its the first interview she has ever done, she said, and she decided to speak to make clear she was not forced out of the agency but left on her own terms. Shes not Miss Congeniality, but thats not going to find Osama bin Laden, said a former CIA associate, who added that the attention from filmmakers sent waves of envy through the agencys ranks. But in a broad sense, she said waterboarding cited in government reports was not torture, insisted such techniques can work and said any criticism of her was largely the result of her taking risks to combat terrorism. The highly anticipated film "Zero Dark Thirty" hits theaters Friday after limited release, but the internet is already abuzz over a line that has people scratching their heads. Excellent movie. What a let down. Indeed, when it comes to hunting al-Qaida, they have at times been the norm: The CIAs first unit devoted to tracking al Qaeda, known as Alec Station, hired women analysts almost exclusively in the 1990s, according to a fascinating piece from the Daily Beast published in September. However, with her follow-up to her Oscar-winning classic, Bigelow has delivered what will . Powered by WordPress.com VIP. Zero Dark Thirty is, however, a little bit different. Zero Dark Thirty is a 2012 American thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal.The film dramatizes the nearly decade-long international manhunt for Osama bin Laden, leader of the terrorist network Al-Qaeda, after the September 11 attacks.This search leads to the discovery of his compound in Pakistan and the military raid where bin Laden was killed on May 2, 2011. Nothing suggested that there couldn't be more than three. When they finally get around to the actual raid, even that moves in slow motion. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Edit, The Inter-Services Intelligence agency, the Pakistani equivalent of the CIA and FBI combined. Why weren't the occupants of the house not more alarmed at the approach of the helicopters? Michael Scheuer declined an interview request. The CIA ended up pulling him from the country. Its the voice of the teacher or the analyst or the self-restraining parent whose blank false mask of benevolent authority and patient tolerance is actually filled with attitudinizing judgment and narrowly normative limits of acceptable, admissible feelings and actions. A 2 hour 46 minute YAWN!!! Edit, Zero Dark Thirty is a dramatized account of the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden following the September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. But theres something perverse about approaching Zero Dark Thirty as exciting action entertainment: its based on real events and real people, and, in surprisingly many ways, its subject is at the very core of contemporary American politics: the use of force by the United States governmentwhich, in the film, is headed by the torture of prisoners suspected of association with Al Qaeda, and continues to the military action that resulted in bin Ladens death. Maya is a CIA operative whose first experience is in the interrogation of prisoners following the Al Qaeda attacks against the U.S. on the 11th September 2001. so follow the slow leads is the game. Some details about Jen are available in the former Navy SEAL Matt Bissonnettes (alias Mark Owen), book No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama Bin Laden. According to the book, she was recruited by the CIA out of college and spent years piecing together Bin Ladens whereabouts. It is possible Boal and Bigelow added that wrinkle in order to make the scene even more dramatic than it actually was. Edit, "Zero Dark Thirty" is military slang for an unspecified time in the early hours of the morning before dawn. I think people neglect the fact that orgs like the CIA are not internally transparent and most employees are not high level agents and even/especially if they were, sharing personal stories puts everyone else in jeopardy. In the film, Maya watches an al-Qaida suspect get waterboarded and locked in a tiny compartment. She has experienced violence, witnessed violence, been the target of violence, lost friends to violence, abetted violence. The purpose of Zero Dark Thirty is to portray the trials and efforts behind finding Osama Bin Laden. and has been religiously devoted to bin Laden ever since. The most solid lead is his most trusted currier. Yet, as debate in the wake of the Newtown murders revealed, theres a peculiar aspect to the argument made by partisans of gun control. Its like middle-schoolers with clearances.. Both are often at odds with their superiors. Maya is a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency analyst, recruited "out of high school" around 1999, tasked with finding the al-Qaeda leader Osama . whose spare-tire cover was emblazoned with an image of a white rhino and was eventually tracked down to the compound where Bin Laden was hiding. External Reviews Delivery times may vary, especially during peak periods. In 2010 he was named in a lawsuit brought by a Pakistani journalist whose relatives were killed by U.S. drone strikes. They do this to mainly prevent enemies from salvaging parts to use against them or others or stealing any advanced technology. Members of Congress have called for investigations into whether classified information was shared. Zero Dark Thirty suggests that theres a lot of violence being done in the world by bin Laden and his followers; it offers little confidence in the power of diplomacy to oppose it (as, for instance, in the scenes suggesting the betrayal of a C.I.A. I can't see them seriously recruiting high school kids because so much can change by the end of college. Bikowsky's identity is not publicly acknowledged by the Agency but was deduced by independent investigative journalists in 2011. Meanwhile, Toby Young at The Telegraph states that Ammar is a composite of three Al Qaeda suspects, though how he arrived at this conclusion is unclear. At one point in the film, after a female colleague is killed in an attack on a CIA compound in Afghanistan, Maya describes her purpose in near-messianic terms: I believe I was spared so I could finish the job.. The usual advantages of portraying an actual living person didn't apply to Jessica Chastain with her role as Maya in " Zero Dark Thirty ." The woman responsible for . She is soon in the "group of " CIA types who use torture, deprivation and just about any means to get info on their quarry Osama. Edit, Awards I can't see them seriously recruiting high school kids because so much can change by the end of college. Scheuer will not say if she agreed with her husbands ideas but said she debates him on some issues. What is a creepy fact about the human body? Well take a look and remove the review if it doesnt follow our guidelines. After The Hurt Locker's dethroning of Avatar for Best Picture in 2010, the stakes were high for Kathryn Bigelow to deliver with Zero Dark Thirty, a film that is as ambitious in scope and grand as The Hurt Locker was small and claustrophobic.Zero Dark Thirty was so big it had to fail. Zero Dark Thirty's Maya is a singular force to be reckoned with and, as the film suggests, is something of a lone wolftwisting the arms of superiors to keep the hunt moving, baring her teeth at a conference table to get an operation approved, forever eating lunch alone since the death of her one . A Senate investigation does not allege Scheuer personally tortured any suspects. By: Andrew James, Landon Green, Ryan Randell. Why are the SEALs rifling through the house after killing bin Laden? The C.I.A., and, in particular, Maya, are hard at work to uncover information regarding where bin Laden can be found, and are doing so on the assumption that, when hes found, the U.S. military will capture or kill him. Is this an image of solitude, exhaustion, regret, existential purposelessness, or just goodbye? The celebrated Navy SEAL squad that killed Osama bin Laden has been the focus of a series of books, films and video games. Its constructed like a roller-coaster ride, with its thrills and scares, which the viewer knows will result in successat least, success as defined by those who are involved in the mission. The New Yorker's Jane Mayer, writing yesterday about the NBC article, added that the officer " is still in a position of high authority over counterterrorism at the C.I.A." This officer . CIA operatives normally operate in a dark, shadowy world, but Scheuers experiences found the spotlight. waterboarding) in order to seek out information about al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden (Ricky Sekhon), becomes obsessed with the search. Only other discussion I could find seems to center around does / should the CIA recruit from high school at all. Theres no ideological context for bin Laden or those suspected of association with Al Qaeda; theres also no doctrinal, or, for that matter, personal context for the protagonist. Read our extensive list of rules for more information on other types of posts like fan-art and self-promotion, or message the moderators if you have any questions. Ke Huy Quan: From the Coolest Kid of the Mid-80s to the Jake Gyllenhaal & Conor McGregor in "ROAD HOUSE" Are Steven Seagal movies just money laundering vehicles? After al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden orchestrates the devastating September 11 terrorist attacks, the American government begins a decade-long hunt that culminates in the terrorist's death at the hands of the Navy SEAL Team 6. All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. Though his actual identity is now known, he seems to have kept a relatively low profile since leaving Pakistan; we were unable to find a publicly available photograph of him. Its a canny litmus test that embeds its coy ambiguities in its very form. After being given a prestigious award for her work, she sent an e-mail to dozens of other recipients saying they didnt deserve to share her accolades, current and former officials said. Rather, those whose reasons are established at the outset are American torturers and civilians who accept or justify torture. If I had a watch, I wouldnt have looked at it once during the screening of Zero Dark Thirty that I attended several weeks ago. This week, Nate Silver reported on the Times Web site on how the numbers shake out politically (short answer: thirty-one per cent of Democrats and fifty-six per cent of Republicans own guns). At the same time that the European Court of Human Rights has issued a historic ruling condemning the C.I.A.'s . Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. I have watched this movie multiple times because there's so many pieces and they're mostly in the middle east with middle eastern names and I found I discovered something new every time I've watched it. Joseph Bradley (Kyle Chandler) Jonathan Banks. the SETS were incredible. I didnt bury my head in the sand.. Abu Ahmed (Tushaar Mehra) - Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti So declares the CIA Station Head in Pakistan about a new arrival in 2003, a "CIA targeter and subject-matter expert," Maya (Jessica Chastain). Bazins doctrine took root not with the younger critics in his midst at Cahiers du Cinma, the future New Wave, but with later generations of filmmakersthose who, coming after the New Wave, couldnt outrun it or the history of cinema that it brought to the fore. | 05/18/2014 10:08 Subject: Who is the real Maya in Zero Dark Thirty? Though Zero Dark Thirty refers to Maya being recruited to the CIA out of high school, No Easy Day says that she was recruited out . When Alec Stations first chief, a man, left in 1999, all of his 14 targeters were women. (A targeter is an analyst who pores over grainy drone footage and sorts through phone intercepts and other fragments of intelligence to find the exact location of terrorists, drug traffickers, or arms dealers.) So the producers of Homeland likely could have had any number of women in mind when they were dreaming up their hero. The report also notes that, prior to 9/11, she supported the decision of a subordinate to withhold from the FBI the fact that two of the 9/11 hijackers, who were on an FBI watch list at the time, had entered the country. (Photos credited to Matthews family have since been used in articles, but Slate could not be sure by press time whether any were publicly available.) The film is a cinematic page-turner, constructed on a simple architecture: the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden, mainly from the perspective of a C.I.A. | The Zero Dark Thirty main character is thought to be based on an amalgam of CIA operatives, including Scheuer, though she was not central in the quest to hunt down Bin Laden. Anticipating that Panetta would not be impressed with the how he was going to look on screen, Gandolfini has said, I sent a note to Leon saying, Im very sorry about everything. They sought me out in kindergarten. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. Maya is targeted by two gunmen and her position on the mission is compromised.Zero Dark Thirty: For a decade, an elite team of intelligence and military oper. Did Maya not have sex for ten years? Verified purchase: Sold by: She wasn't an ops officer (what most would commonly call a 'spy'), but she served more in what could be called a clerical position. Why did the SEAL team destroy the downed chopper? 3:20 PM. dude you got lucky. Previously All rights reserved. The character Maya, which is not the CIA operatives real name, is portrayed as a gifted operative who spent years pursuing her conviction that al-Qaedas courier network would lead to bin Laden, a conviction that proved correct. (This turn of events is depicted in Zero Dark Thirty.) Is there a tune copied from the Telugu film Leader? Unloved by most of his colleagues, some deem Roger responsible for the December 2009 Khost incident depicted in the film, which left seven CIA employees dead at the hands of an improperly vetted suicide bomber. Both are presented as unusually sure of their analyses, even in comparison to their CIA colleagues, whose conclusions they confidently upend. Refresh your browser window to try again. Yes, 'Zero Dark Thirty' is based on a true story. While some of the movies details differ slightlyMaya is recruited out of high school, not college, before working on the operation for a full decadeother Jen-related passages from the book read like the shooting script for Zero Dark Thirty. kingfish-4400. Ex-CIA analyst Alfreda Scheuer is shown in a screenshot of her beauty and life coaching website YBeU beauty personal coaching. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Overly hyped movie~ Jessica Chastain is solid as the youthful CIA INTELLIGENCE person "Maya" who recruited out of high school wants to "get ahead" in her job. Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty, and Claire Danes in Homeland. Lets begin! Zero Dark Thirty. She then boards a transport plane where she is told to sit anywhere because hers is the only name on the manifest. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. by the time we got the "final showdown" we are a bit disappointed by it. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. He was pardoned by President George HW Bush before trial. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. The goal of /r/Movies is to provide an inclusive place for discussions and news about films with major releases. Internal e-mails released this year under Freedom of Information Act requests showed how the agency set up repeated visits for Boal, allowing him to tour the vault where the raid was planned and even see a mock-up of the Abbottabad compound. She has a "go get them" attitude which leads her to Pakistan. The naysayers who thought her previous hit, "The Hurt Locker" was a fluke/had help from her famous ex-husband James Cameron( Titanic, Avatar and others) were incorrect and hopefully this movie will shut the naysayers up once and for all. Ultimately, Zero Dark Thirty is a strikingly accurate film when it comes to recreating the details of the years leading up to the capture and the decisive mission itself. Torture is depicted as indirectly but indubitably useful in the search for bin Laden (an assertion that has been denied by officials, as reported in the magazine by Dexter Filkins); a crucial piece of information in Mayas investigation is elicited from a prisoner who had been tortured and, now being fed a peaceful lunch, is threatened with more torture in the case of his non-coperation. One of the shibboleths of the modern cinema, of the liberal cinemaand of critics who endorse itis the ostensible merit, aesthetic as well as moral, of ambiguity. On the other, it puts their actions in the foreground and withholds analysis, comment, and context, except by sly association that throws the burden of interpretation on the viewer, not least in the vague ruefulness of the ending, with Maya alone. My theory is that the ROTC scholarship programs are fronts for CIA recruitment right out of high school Technically the CIA can attach military personnel to it for national security purposes, presumably even without their knowledge. That's my guess. Stills from Zero Dark Thirty by Jonathan Olley / 2012 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All rights reserved. She told Reuters she joined Alec Station in 1999, after Michael Scheuer had left as chief. Much of the events in the film, including its conclusion, are based on actual historical events, and though some of the characters have been fictionalized, Boal stated that all of them depict real people. December 14, 2012. I wondered about that too since I knew someone all of my childhood that worked for the CIA and they were definitely not recruited in high-school, but definitely were in college. . THE HUNT FOR OSAMA BIN LADIN Overly hyped movie~ Jessica Chastain is solid as the youthful CIA INTELLIGENCE person "Maya" who recruited out of high school wants to "get ahead" in her job . But the developments have cast a cloud over a career that is about to be bathed in the sort of cinematic glow ordinarily reserved for fictional Hollywood spies. Over 10 years of leads from one end of the world to the other and then back to Pakistan. In November 2014, Robert ONeill told The Washington Post he fired the shot that killed the terrorist leader. The move stunned the womans former associates, despite her reputation for clashing with colleagues. whose spare-tire cover was emblazoned with an image of a white rhino, reportedly linked Ammar to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ammar is a composite of three Al Qaeda suspects, killed in December 2012 during a rescue mission in Afghanistan. The real reason any agency recruits this young is because they want a pure mind. THE HUNT FOR OSAMA BIN LADIN Overly hyped movie~ Jessica Chastain is solid as the youthful CIA INTELLIGENCE person "Maya" who recruited out of high school wants to "get ahead" in . All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. Described as one of the CIAs top experts on al-Qaeda, the Agency made her name public in 2010, when it honored the 12 agents killed in the Camp Chapman attack. The wig, everything. . Someone that thinks naturally and has not been training into common box thinking. But the female targeter was one of the people from very early on pushing this courier approach. The reason she couldn't talk about it with the Director of the CIA, who already knows what she did and why they recruited her, is that the cafeteria is not a SCIF, meaning classified information cannot be discussed there. At times Chastain aka "Maya" is targeted for death for searching for OBL= Osama Bin Ladin. . Scheuer retired from her most recent role as deputy chief of Homeland and Strategic Threats late in 2021 and agreed to talk to Reuters this year. Since the identities of many of the films real-life inspirations are kept under wraps, it is widely assumed that Maya is based on an actual CIA agent referred to as Jen or Miss 100 Percent.. What did she put on hold in her pursuit for bin Laden? Zero Dark Thirty is the story of a heroine. The dogma of ambiguity infects much of the so-called art cinema, a talking-points cinema that passes for cinematic art, such as Michael Hanekes films (including Amour, coming out December 25th) and Christian Petzolds Barbara (coming out December 21st). Condition: In January 2014, the Washington Post named her and tied her to a pre-9/11 intelligence failure and the extraordinary . Silhouette of a woman by iStockphoto. In fact, I raised my hand loud and proud and you know, I dont regret it at all.. A 2005 CIA inspector general report said the CIA failed to pass the travel information about al-Qaida attackers to the FBI before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the US. Yes, Zero Dark Thirty is based on a true story. Though viewers know that the Navy SEAL raid on the Abbottabad compound was successfulmeaning that bin Laden was killed and the soldiers got out safe and soundthe staging of it, filled with twists, turns, pitfalls, near-misses, is done with heart-pounding energy, alternating between views of the soldiers and their own point of view, through their infrared night-vision goggles. Running time: 157 minutes. If you, too, are intrigued to find out more, we may have some details about the same. In his opposition to the films torture scenes, Senator John McCain reportedly linked Ammar to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, noting that the enhanced interrogation techniques did not provide [them] with key leads on bin Ladens courier, Abu Ahmed. (In the film, Ammar eventually does provide them with that information.) Its a humanist cinema that constructs an ostensible humanism through the elimination of most of human experience. about one hour too long. The films publicity materials say that Maya is based on a real person, but the filmmakers declined to elaborate. ***MINIMAL SPOILERS*** Director Kathryn Bigelow has done it again by putting out a superior product. Zero Dark Thirty is the same kind of film, but even more so. Because he was offering them vital intelligence that they had been seeking for nearly a decade. (Carries bipolar diagnosis is, so far as I can tell, added for just that reason.) Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. Thermite or plastic explosives are commonly used. In 2002, red-haired CIA analyst Alfreda Scheuer, then known by her maiden name Bikowsky, traveled to a secret CIA prison to watch the torture of al-Qaida suspect Abu Zubaydah, who was waterboarded and locked in a dog box, Senate investigators reported. Zero Dark Thirty, after earning five Oscar nominations including Best Picture, finally went wide this past weekend and immediately shot to No. Entdecke Zero Dark Thirty (DVD, 2013) in groer Auswahl Vergleichen Angebote und Preise Online kaufen bei eBay Kostenlose Lieferung fr viele Artikel! It chronicles the efforts of Maya (Jessica Chastain), a CIA analyst who relentlessly hunts Osama bin Laden in the years following 9/11. The former CIA agent also spoke about the incidence of torture in the form of waterboarding to extract information. The real agent is having more difficulties. Why were the CIA not more suspicious of the Jordanian doctor? The implication seems to be that Jessica is that mother, whose real name was Jennifer Lynne Matthews. The female officer, who is in her 30s, is the model for the main character in Zero Dark Thirty,a film that chronicles thedecade-long hunt for the al-Qaeda chief and that critics are describing as an Academy Award front-runner even before its Dec. 19 release. They married in 2014 and she took his name. All rights reserved. Best Movies about modern (post-1900) warfare/military. Wait until they go through college so they don't have to waste a bunch of time training them. Jessica Chastain had a remarkable year in 2011 bursting onto the scene with an Oscar-nominated role in The Help and didn't slow down in 2012.She tops off a busy year with a Oscar-nominated turn in Zero Dark Thirty, in wide release Jan. 11.She plays Maya, a CIA operative based on a real person, dedicated to following the lead that would eventually guide agents to Osama bin Laden. The female officer, who is in her 30s, is the model for the main character in "Zero Dark Thirty,"a film that chronicles the decade-long hunt for the al-Qaeda chief and that critics are .
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