Posted on 01/14/2013 1:19:41 PM PST by BenLurkin
HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA.com) The critics agree Zero Dark Thirty a film depicting the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden is gritty and moving.
The movie is also filled with scenes of disturbing and graphic torture and has many people upset. But not about the images and what they depict what the images suggest.
The film has garnered five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. But its also beset with controversy and criticism.
CBS2 and KCAL9 Political Reporter Dave Bryan went to a theater in Hollywood Friday evening and spoke to a group of people who say the movie glorifies torture.
While the film has been playing in Los Angeles since mid-December, it opened nationwide Friday.
A small group protesting with hoods over their heads stood outside the theater with signs denouncing torture, drones and indefinite detention.
Another group, the interfaith United For Justice and Peace, say that two Hollywood stars namely Martin Sheen and Ed Asner have issued an appeal to other actors to vote their conscience on whether to reward the movie with a win on Oscar night.
Bryan also reports three prominent Senators Dianne Feinstein, John McCain and Carl Levin have also written a letter of protest to the films studio.
Critics of the movie say the torture scenes suggest the United States would never have captured or killed bin Laden without torturing detainees.
Protester Luis Rivas said, It directly and implicitly says that torture works and that the United States has successfully carried out its agenda using torture.
Bryan reports that some current and former CIA personnel have stated that enhanced interrogation techniques did lead to vital information in the manhunt.
Phil Mudd, a former CIA deputy director, said The information I saw derived from the detainees we had in CIA facilities and that includes detainees where they used enhanced techniques was invaluable. I would call it crucial.
Jessica Chastain, Oscar-nominated star of the movie, even admits she grappled with torture taking center stage in the film. I had trouble sleeping to be honest, she said. I had a lot of anxiety about whether we were telling the right story there are some very difficult scenes in this movie. We show very intense interrogations.
Director Kathryn Bigelow told CBS This Morning, I thought it was important we told a true story. And its part of the history. Its controversial but its part of the history.
Bryan said the Hollywood protest was not well-received by everyone who walked by. Said one man, The movie was brilliant. I suggest everyone go see it. I mean, the movie doesnt celebrate torture. It obviously doesnt. The movie is about something more deep than that.
Said protester Rivas, No one wants to see this movie banned. Thats the last thing we want. People should see this movie. In my opinion. But torture should be put in context and this movie glorifies it.
Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, wrote in a statement, Zero Dark Thirty does not advocate torture. To not include that part of history would have been irresponsible and inaccurate. We fully support Kathryn Bigelow and [writer] Mark Boal and stand behind this extraordinary movie. We are outraged that any responsible member of the Academy would use their voting status in AMPAS as a platform to advance their own political agenda. This film should be judged free of partisanship. To punish an artists right of expression is abhorrent.
Pfft!
No chance this film gets an Oscar. Not that I care what Hollywood thinks about anything.
They’re just upset because it doesn’t portray Obama going to Afghanistan and killing Obama himself.
Hey, it's not like I'm the first one who's made that mistake.
But, that “torture” allowed us to gain the intelligence necessary so Obama could get all tacticaled-up and fly to Poky-ston to personally kill Osama Bin Laden! Or at least that’s the fantasy that the left masturbates to every night.
After what they’ve done to America in the last five years, how can they claim to be opposed to torture?
The libtards are just upset that this movie doesn’t portray Obama to be the one that killed Bin Laden with his little hands..libs hate torture, trust me, seeing these liberal loons patting each other on the back is TRUE torture
I wonder what they think Django advocates.
This should help ticket sales.
...and for being pretty darn hot...
I would be gald to see the ending brought to life when he is given a 21 gun salute, (firing squad) for all the military deaths that could be attached to this blabber mouth's disclosure!
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If somebody is against torture because of moral principles, shouldn’t they still be against it even if the torture works?
I’m against extreme torture (such as body mutilation) even if it does work. I suspect most freepers have a line somewhere that they draw using moral principles.
I would only be okay with something that causes extreme pain (such as shocks) in the most dire of circumstances, such as someone knew the location of a nuclear bomb that’s about to explode. Other than that, that’s out too.
Waterboarding was used three times by the Bush administration on the worst of the worst. I can live with that. I wouldn’t want to use it often, however.
Anything that’s no worse than what recruits face in boot camp (sleep deprivation, getting yelled at in the face, etc.) is just fine by me for nonuniformed enemy combatants.
I draw these lines based primarily on morality, not effectiveness. Some people want the universe to line up perfectly so that anything they find morally unacceptable is therefore also ineffective. It’s an absurd childlike way of thinking.
Now I definitely will see it.
See the movie and watch it closely. I don’t want to give anything away, so I won’t spell it out, but this is not a baby movie that coddles you along—you have to pay attention.
They use the correct military language when appropriate too. No Hollywood translation. That is why a lot of people miss a lot.
I enjoyed it. So did my new Marine son. OK, there were a couple of scenes that weren’t realistic—a junior CIA employee telling off her senior and threatening him with being exposed to a Congressional committee was a little absurd. I also heard that some of the other characters were not portrayed as positively as they should be. But overall, it was very good, edge-of-the-seat stuff even though you knew how it was going to turn out. Some good acting.
Little people desperately seeking relevence....
and surely there was no politics among the other voting movie directors that the director of Zero Dark was NOT nominated for best director, while the movie itself was nominated for best picture (ha ha) - a difference that is rare even in uber political Hollyweird
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