Film review: Zero Dark Thirty leaves audience asking for more

Zero Dark Thirty is making news for a number of reasons – the Oscar nominations it has received, the precise account of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden and the controversy over techniques used by the CIA while interrogating suspects. But caught in between all this is the fact that it leaves the audience asking for more.

The film follows a team of operatives who use interrogation, satellite photos and surveillance to locate Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and culminates in the depiction of Bin Laden’s 2011 death during a raid by US Navy Seals.

Jessica Chastain’s performance as a hard-nosed spy on the trail of the Al Qaida leader has put her in line for an Oscar. She puts in a crisp performance throughout the film, ending in her sitting alone in a plane wondering what she would do next after spending 12 years on the trail of the most wanted man in the world.

Director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal were granted inside access to classified information, which has helped turn the movie into a detailed public account of the May 2011 raid to kill Bin Laden.

Reports have said that the CIA and the Pentagon went all out for the creators of the film, staging interviews with officials for an inside account of the hunt for bin Laden. In fact, it even sparked accusations that the White House used the movie as a propaganda tool.

In the end, it may have been “the closest thing to the official story”, but it offers very little information that was not already known.

The film flits from Pakistan to Virginia, and Area 51 in the Nevada desert to Kuwait, but fails to grip the audience. I was left telling myself, “Ok, next scene please” during the 150-minute film.

For those who have read about the hunt for Al Qaida operatives, chiefly Bin Laden, the film removes some of the cobwebs that have crept in over time and helps connect the dots. But to expect a riveting thriller would be hoping too much.