The character of Joseph Bradley is similarly based on Jonathan Banks, the then CIA station chief in Pakistan. 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. Bigelow, no orthodox Bazinian, deploys a familiar, conventional repertory of the techniques of coded Hollywood realism, including rapid-fire editing and hand-held cameras, to ratchet up excitement, involvement, identification, suspense, which the storys own gaps and elisions undercut, throwing the viewer into the position of having been entertained by things that really arent much fun and rooting for things that make a viewer then wonder why. In fact, so accurate is the depiction of the events in the film that its makers had to be extra cautious during the casting process. Zero Dark Thirty tells a . agent, Maya (Jessica Chastain), whose meticulous and obstinate investigation culminates in the military raid on bin Ladens compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that resulted in his death. Was there really a dog? Red Letter Media sells VHS copy of "Nukie" on eBay for Harry Melling talks about leaving Dudley Dursley behind Press J to jump to the feed. 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.. Maya is widely assumed to be based on a real CIA agent referred to as Jen in No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama Bin Laden. After watching this movie I did some research and found that the director and producer were given access to the CIA analyst who found Bin Laden as well as the Seal team who captured him. She said her role was as a subject matter expert, not an interrogator. The movies depiction of the practice of torture has come to dominate discussion. All rights reserved. Zero Dark Thirty, while on the surface about the 10-year search for bin Laden, is also really about the evolution of Chastain's Maya, as she transforms from a seeming naf at the start of the . Naw. I can't see them seriously recruiting high school kids because so much can change by the end of college. Or is she luring viewers to make the same association and assumption, to put the viewer into complicity with those in the C.I.A. 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 . Since many of the characters had real-life counterparts, some of whom still had undercover identities, Bigelow and Boal purposely cast actors that looked different from those they star as. It also provided valuable intelligence; terrorists the world over are notorious for keeping extensive records for everything they do. 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. The celebrated Navy SEAL squad that killed Osama bin Laden has been the focus of a series of books and films. Her defenders say the operative has been treated unfairly, and even her critics acknowledge that her contributions to the bin Laden hunt were crucial. NEW YORK -- The Washington Post ran a front-page story Tuesday about the CIA agent who serves as the model for Maya, one of the the main characters in "Zero Dark Thirty," a much-anticipated film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden. 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. National Security Advisor (Stephen Dillane) - John Brennan. Bissonnette also describes Jens reaction when they brought back bin Ladens body: Peter Bergen, a journalist who has written about counterterrorism and the Middle East for years, has said that the guy who was on the account from 2003 to May 1, 2011, when Bin Laden was killed, and the guy who was always saying that Bin Laden is living in the mysterious compound in Abbottabadthat guy is a guy, hes not a female. But this conflicts with statements from Bigelow, who has confirmed that the character of Maya was inspired by a woman. I know the CIA has like a "internship" program for high-school kids but you seek them out. As the movie proceeds and Maya pieces together bits of data that suggest bin Ladens presence at the Abbottabad compound, she and her colleagues are charged with evaluating the evidence for its reliability, so that the President can make a reasonable judgment as to whether to unleash the assault. Killing Osama bin Laden himself was not nearly as important as capturing the vast number of records on his organisation he kept in the house. Zero Conscience in "Zero Dark Thirty". Zero Dark Thirty is the same kind of film, but even more so. Edit, That's probably poetic license on the part of the screenwriter. The New Yorker once dubbed Scheuer, again citing her position but omitting her name, as the Queen of Torture, writing that she gleefully participated in torture sessions. 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. Entertainment & Arts. | A debriefer is a subject matter expert who asks questions., The CIAs press secretary, Susan Miller, declined to comment about Scheuer, but said simply: CIAs use of enhanced interrogation techniques ended in 2007.. Zero Dark Thirty (DVD, 2012) Condition: Very good Comes with Case & Artwork Zero Dark Thirty (DVD, 2012) Condition: Very good Comes with Case & Artwork . | In 2010 he was named in a lawsuit brought by a Pakistani journalist whose relatives were killed by U.S. drone strikes. 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. The most solid lead is his most trusted currier. The Washington Post . 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. 3:20 PM. That's probably poetic license on the part of the screenwriter. and has been religiously devoted to bin Laden ever since. What the movie makes clear is that harsh physical abuse was a part of the CIAs post-9/11 investigations. I know the CIA has like a "internship" program for high-school kids but you seek them out. Wait until they go through college so they don't have to waste a bunch of time training them. Presumably if there was anyone she could discuss it with, it would be the Director. He asks how she joined the Agency and her reply is along the lines of: "I was recruited out of High School." When he asks for more detail she says she's not allowed to say. However, the problems that no one can answer need a different way of thought, someone that is open to other ideas or thought processes. High school kids aren't that smart. But the female targeter was one of the people from very early on pushing this courier approach. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Michael Scheuer has in recent years espoused conspiracy theories, and called on then president Donald Trump to impose martial law after he lost the 2020 election. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. In the film, the CIA recruits Maya out of high school, and later it was deduced that the character is partly based on former CIA analyst Alfreda Scheuer. In Vietnam, the Allies captured up to half a million documents a month from the Viet Cong, which allowed them to anticipate and largely thwart the famous Tet offensive. By contrast, Zero Dark Thirty offers no ideological context for Al Qaedas attacksno statement of principles from jihadi sites, no religious exhortations, no practical demands or litany of complaints. 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. 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. U.S. officials acknowledged that Boal met with Mayas real-life counterpart and other CIA officers, typically in the presence of someone from the agencys public affairs office. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. I wanted to say what an outstanding portrayal was done by the lead actress, but I got a message from eBay saying they won't allow a potty mouth so i'll suffice in calling her Jessica C. Verified purchase: Verified purchase: by the time we got the "final showdown" we are a bit disappointed by it. Zero Dark Thirty . 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). If anything, a former CIA officer might be in academia and perhaps think Maya would've been fit for the agency, and would suggest that she'd give it a shot. And why she doesn't think she can answer is because of the security clearance the the somewhat public setting. Maya, the film's main character, spends a The much-discussed opening scene of Zero Dark Thirty features the main character Maya, played by Jessica Chastain, observing a detainee at a Though Zero Dark Thirty refers to Maya being recruited to the CIA out of high 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 . Abu Ahmed (Tushaar Mehra) - Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti Given the realistic portrayal of events in Zero Dark Thirty, the audience wonders if actual incidents inspire it. Though it was only 17 years ago that the agency paid $1 million to more than 400 women in a class-action suit involving sex discrimination, women have in the last two decades assumed an increasingly prominent place there. The latter was described as one of the CIAs top experts on al-Qaida and was killed in the Camp Chapman attack in 2009. (If there's romance in "Zero Dark Thirty" it is between hunter . It's not the how in the question it is the "why". Powered by WordPress.com VIP. Yes The movie shows government employees taking part in decisions regarding the deployment of mighty power and vast resources; the making of decisions of vast moment and immediate, possibly grave, even world-historical results. She has a "go get them" attitude which leads her to Pakistan. Excellent movie. (This turn of events is depicted in Zero Dark Thirty.) For several years, she is single-minded in her pursuit of leads to uncover the whereabouts of Al Qaeda's leader, Osama Bin Laden. In the book, former Navy SEAL Matt Bissonnette, who published the book under the name Mark Owen, says that Jen was recruited by the agency out of college, had been working on the Bin Laden task force for five years, and that shed worked to put all the pieces together in tracking bin Laden to Abbottabad, Pakistan. After shes killed, a news report provides voiceover to the scene, mentioning that among the CIA employees killed in the attack was a mother of three. Zero Dark Thirty. Climate & Environment. 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. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. The compound where UBL was found was rebuilt in a different Middle East country, and the details were totally spot on and believable. After joining Alec Station, Scheuer rose to deputy chief and then, she says, its chief. She was, he says, our go-to analyst on all intelligence questions regarding the target. 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. This is a 2 1/2 hour movie. 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. The character is played by Jessica Chastain. Delivery times may vary, especially during peak periods. The Hurt Locker functioned at two levelsit depicted a mission that targeted the perpetrators of monstrous deeds but that had a terrible effect on the soldiers who took part in it; it was both ambiguous and not. The character isnt just a cipher but a filtered-out cipher, reduced to her function as the chief bin Laden hunter. So declares the CIA Station Head in Pakistan about a new arrival in 2003, a "CIA targeter and subject-matter expert," Maya (Jessica Chastain). 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. 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