Zero Deep Thirty

 “Zero Deep Thirty” combines the talents of scrrenwriter Mark Boal and director Kathryn Bigelow (the two who wrote and directed “The Hurt Locker”)  in order to produce a film that is detached from sentimentality and typical Hollywood antics in telling  the story of the locating and destroying of Osama Ben Laden. Starring Jessica Chastain, Jason Clark and Joel Edgerton, the film takes us through the painstaking efforts of the CIA and its staff to locate the compound in Pakistan where this most wanted terrorist resided. Kudos to Ms. Chastain and to the writer and director of the film for making the almost 3 hours of story-telling pass so quickly. True, we all know the ending, but the marvel of the film is that the viewer is still in a state of suspense until the last action packed episode is over.

The issue within the film and the cause of the controversy surrounding it are the scenes of prisoners being tortured and the practical but perhaps inhuman reasons for such conduct.  Breathtaking to the end I give the film 3 and ½ stars for its ability to tell a story in almost documentary form and achieving a sense of reality that most movies fail to reach. This is truly a film worth seeing.