"ZERO DARK THIRTY" a review
Military speak for 30 minutes after midnight.
Also, the time, the Navy Seals killed bin Laden,
In his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan

Eerily, the movie opens with a blank screen,
Bombarding us with the sounds of
"last" phone calls to loved ones,
From those trapped in the World Trade Center, 9/11.

Enter heroine,
Maya ( played by Jessica Chastain),
A CIA intelligence agent transferred to Pakistan, and
Into the world of "Black Sites,
Secret locations, where Al-Queda agents are detained.

Her first interrogation, Ammar.
Who we find hanging by ropes in
the middle of a dirty windowless room.
Fellow agent, Dan (played by Jason Clarke) plays
mind games with the sleep deprived prisoner.

Interrogation takes place over several days.
Culminating in water-boarding.
A leave--no-marks torture.
Sanctioned by President Bush, banned in 2006 by Obama.
This is a straight on look at the ambiguity of war
A peek through a curtain, usually drawn.
And here in, lies the controversy of the film.

Director Kathryn Bigelow (Hurt Locker) claims
the movie is based on first hand accounts of actual events,"
Hard to prove one way or the other.

Does the movie glorify torture?
I think it lays it out there, dispassionately.
It simply 'is'.

Did torture lead us to bin Laden?
If so, is it justified?
What is the toll on the person inflicting the torture?

Even though you know the end.
It's still edge-of- the- seat stuff.
Two modified Black Hawks drop Navy Seals into bin Laden's compound.
Each man hauling 60 lbs. of gear and wearing night vision googles.

Later, at the White House, Obama asked who shot bin Laden.
"On their honor", that is something each man will take to his grave.
4.5/5