Posted on 12/24/2012 1:54:39 AM PST by Behind the Blue Wall
I just saw Zero Dark Thirty, and I thought I'd give a quick review of it for the benefit of those of you who might consider seeing it in the coming weeks. I'll try not to give away too many spoilers, but obviously it's a true story, so it shouldn't be too hard.
First off, I don't think it's pro-Obama propaganda. The hero of the movie is the CIA agent who made it her personal decade-long mission to track down bin Laden, and then secondarily, Seal Team Six of course, but also the other CIA personnel who participated in the manhunt, some of whom gave their lives in the process. Politics are generally kept in the background.
And to the extent that political people were discussed, it was mostly in the negative. The "enhanced interrogation" techniques used by the CIA during the early years after 9/11 were clearly portrayed as critical in establishing the leads that ultimately led to bin Laden, yet the main characters later in the film warn each other that those tacts have fallen out of political favor, and those using them now risked being the "last person holding a dog collar." Obama's only on-screen appearance is footage of him cynically declaring an end to the "torture" that was so obviously critical to the hunt for bin Laden.
The loss of detention sites after Obama took office is decried. And the hero of the film has to overcome a lot of bureaucratic and political opposition at every step along the way, including an excruciating four-plus month long wait for action once she'd identified the compound where OBL was hiding.
In fact, if you saw this film, and then at the end were shown the clips of Obama taking all of the credit for it, you would be hard-pressed not to be sickened by him. If there is one overriding theme of the film, it's that this victory was the result of long, hard years of sacrifice by some very heroic and patriotic CIA and military foot soldiers out in the field, not politicians and bureaucrats in Washington.
The only aspect of the film that does reflect somewhat well on Obama is that if their version of the facts is correct, the decision to go in there was not as obvious as I previously believed. The CIA never obtained hard confirmation that bin Laden was in fact living there, and the technology that allowed us to fly helicopters into Pakistani airspace without being detected was new and unproven. I still believe that any President worth his salt, and definitely Bush, would've made a similar choice, but all the same, it was not a "no-brainer". There was risk involved. To be perfectly honest, unfortunately, I can't sit here and say that I know for a fact that Romney would've done the same thing.
I will also note that it exposes once again the hypocrisy of the left, which railed on and on about suspected terrorists having water poured on their faces or loud rock music played at all hours of the night, but now cheers wildly when Obama orders what are essentially summary executions against them instead. The film doesn't really focus on it, but the reality is laid bare that it was Bush's policy of capturing, detaining, and interrogating suspected terrorists that led to bin Laden, and that had Obama's policy of shutting down all of that and instead killing them in drone strikes been in place, we would never have gotten that intelligence.
I'll say finally that in terms of basic film quality, it was very good. Well-acted, good story, realistic portrayals of exotic places and intense situations. As a pure entertainment experience, I enjoyed it quite a bit.
I must admit that I’m interested in seeing this film. I hope it lives up to expectations.
huh, i'll watch this on cable on demand then.
I think she is a hell of a director, and seems to buck feminist dogma and prefers real men. Now her ex-husband is a typical white lefty cuckold weenie, but that is another story.
Wow, thanks. Maybe I’ll see this after all.
Never Mind Obama,did George Bush Get any Credit for the Policies that he Put in Place that led to getting Bin Laden
Thank you for this excellent synopsis. I was debating whether or not to take my two sons to see it this week, and after reading your review, we will definitely be going.
Considering that 1) he likely never even gave the order, and 2) that he was ready to blame the military for any failure, I don't find this to be very comforting.
The movie sounds interesting, though. Hopefully it's better than that godawful "Hurt Locker" abomination.
nice review.
from what I understand and what I’ve read in a few articles and books that have come out about it, the film is right that it wasn’t clear cut he was there.
Obama has said in interviews that he himself thought it was a 50-50 chance when he gave the order. A number of top advisors and officials including Biden were against it. I think Gates was as well. Many of the CIA analysts put in the 50-50 to 60-80 range when they red teamed it. Now apparently there was this one analyst(the “Maya” in the film) who was more confident and was very sure it was him.
Sadly I have to agree with you that I don’t know if Romney would have ordered it given the info. He was very cautious during the campaign. Say what you will about Obama but he has that badass/street side to him for lack of a better term where if he wants to go after someone he will, and ruthlessly.
Also good points about the left railing against Bush but ignoring Obama’s drones killing hundreds of not thousands of civilians. You barely heard a peep from the left or the media when that guy Awlaki’s son was killed as part of the drone strike that got him. Imagine if Bush had killed KSM’s son while waterboarding him? You’d never hear the end of it.
Was the any coverage of the rumored three planned but canceled raids?
Not directly or by name, but the entire plot is built around the dogged pursuit of a lead that was generated through the "enhanced interrogation" of suspected terrorosts during the Bush years. I certainly came away more convinced than ever that most of the political credit should go to him.
No, but it very clearly and dramatically portrayed the excruciatingly long delay between the timemthat they traced him to a specific location, and the raid that they did mount.
That’s precisely how the film portrayed it, down to the decimal point. One edit: Awlaki’s son wasn’t killed by the same drone strike that killed his father; he was killed in another drone strike two weeks later, and he may himself have been the target.
thanks,I may decide to see it then
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