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Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Processing Ghosts in a Morally Ambiguous Maze
In Katherine Bigelow's previous film, The Hurt Locker, a borderline mystical, obsessive outsider(Jeremy Renner) attempts to exorcise violent malevolent spirits (bombs) from within their innocuous, unassuming hosts(cars, cadavers) whilst negotiating a labyrinthine haunted house teeming with spectral enemies(post-invasion Iraq).
In this equally hauntological follow-up, a woman (Jessica Chastain), who's self seems more defined by what's absent than what's present, hunts the ultimate ghost(Usama Bin Laden) in a perhaps misguided attempt to vanquish and banish the black hole vacuum that's been feasting on the soul of her and her country since September 11th 2001 and attain a sense of, well what exactly? Retribution? Justice? Closure? Maybe she's simply trying to lay some ghosts, both public and private, to rest...
Chastain anchors the film with a controlled, subtle performance proving she has a versatility that should propel her beyond her already brilliant support slots as wife/girlfriend etc. Only Cate Blanchett, and possibly Charlize Theron, can touch her right now. Her delicate exterior of feminine porcelain fragility belies an intelligent, taught and tough core that combine to create a surprisingly believable performance. One that puts paid to the lie that women have to act like men to succeed in a man's world. This is a film driven by a female character operating in a male dominated environment that never once resorts to hitting us over the head with gender politics. She is a professional person going about her profession in a professional manner. Nothing more, nothing less. This is true equality of the sexes on screen and it's refreshing to see it handled in this way.
The supporting cast are equally as good and all give note-perfect, generous low-key performances that are entirely in keeping with the ensemble-like nature of the film. Nobody is out to steal the picture here and it's all the better for it.
Technically Zero Dark Thirty is near flawless in direction, camera-work, cinematography, editing and music. Never once are we subjected to BOOMBOOMBOOM audio cues and blaring emotional music. Restraint is the watchword here and Bigelow manages to wring tension out of every set-piece whilst keeping us guessing, which is no mean feat considering we all know the overall outcome before we've even sat down.
Sadly I don't know how popular this ambiguous and complex film is going to be with mainstream audiences. Already, a simplistic knee-jerk critique implying that the film is a justification for torture seems to be emerging and becoming consensus opinion amongst some people, most of which have not even seen the film yet. I would position myself as centrist to left-of-center/liberal politically (I subscribe to Chomsky,Klein and Zinn, but also Ferguson and Hitchens) and I find these accusations to be overly glib and analytically myopic. Whilst within the confines of the story torture does elicit useful information, the characters never seem entirely comfortable with it and it is left up to the viewer to decide whether the ends justify the means. Events are presented as they, supposedly, occurred and, I felt, served more as a jumping off point for discussion rather than a pro-torture polemic. This is not a didactic film and its ambiguity and, perhaps misplaced, faith in the intelligence of its audience could be its ultimate downfall.
There is also a refreshing lack of triumphalism and nationalistic fervour permeating the film (the stars and stripes are especially noticeable by their absence for example). At the end of the day this is a story about process. Laborious, painstaking process. About people doing a job. About that job taking them to the darkest recesses of human thought and action and trying to return unscathed. About attempting to negotiate a map-less and morally bankrupt terrain in search of answers to questions nobody's posed before. Answers they may not even really want.
It's also quite a cold film (which is as it should be given the subject matter) and many audiences may find it difficult to connect with it in an emotional way. The characters have little to no back story and relationships are more professional than personal. At one point the death of a 'lead' appears to be mourned more than a colleague. Perhaps this is what happens when humans become mere collateral in the pursuit of ideologies...?
Ultimately Zero Dark Thirty is certainly not for everybody, but if you like adult, technically adept, taut, political info-thrillers that don't lead you around by the nose and aren't afraid to leave moral spaces in place of simplistic didactic-ism then you'll find much to wrap your brain around. It poses more complex questions than offers simple answers but, as we enter the second uncertain decade of both the 21st century and its questionable 'War on Terror', this seems entirely apt.
The problem with hunting ghosts is: how do you know when you've caught them and, like memories, how can you be sure they won't simply rise again to taunt you once more?
The Cave (2005)
Pretty but pretty dull
Bunch of predictably pretty looking but also predictably pretty bland and annoying people get gradually slaughtered by Alien-esque looking monsters in a well shot but ultimately pointless and toothless PG haunted-house creature-feature stalk and slash flick.
Technically well done but what a waste of great technicians. Just another teen targeted genre movie with a supposedly attractive multi-racial cast that attempts to tick as many demographics as possible.
I watched it on cable as I finished off some writing for work so maybe I missed something. But I don't think so.
Lena Headey looks great with the sound off. As does Piper Perabo. I'm sure some of the himbos flick the switches for the ladies too. So stick it on with the volume down and play some music over the top whilst doing something else. It makes nice wallpaper.
Yawn.
Over There (2005)
Clichéd and cringe-worthy at times
Got lent this as a box-set by a friend after I lent them Generation Kill. They definitely got the better deal.
The characters are paper thin cut-outs of the modern military movie mould plodding through the same old predictable arcs. The dialogue is clunky and clichéd and is either perfunctorily expositional or feels as though the writer's are simply making trite speeches via the mouths of their characters. The action sequences feel cheap and fake, are poorly directed and edited. They rely heavily on erratic fast zooms, whip-pans and student style post-production effects in a laughably dated attempt to feel hip. I don't know where this was filmed but it looks more like the Californian desert than Iraq. Also there is barely any actual dramatic tension.
The whole thing is as mawkish as it's overly literal syrup-rock closing credits theme song.
To paraphrase a previous poster Generation Kill literally kills this stone dead and I bet it cost less to make too. Admittedly Generation Kill is a lot more demanding of it's audience but the rewards are ten-fold. It actually attempts to take an objective view of the Iraq situation whereas Over There has a very pro-American subtext barely covered by a thin veneer of apparent objectivity. The structure, language, casting, performances, plot, direction, action humour and dialogue in Generation Kill are all superlative and make Over There look as dramatically dated as an episode of E.R. Goes to Iraq.
You can buy the complete run of Generation Kill for 15 quid on Amazon right now. Cheap at twice the price.