Zero Dark Thirty: Movie Review Evaluation

Article:
http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/movies/jessica-chastain-in-zero-dark-thirty.html?_r=0&pagewanted=2


This article is a New York Times movie review of the Oscar winning film, "Zero Dark Thirty". The movie is about the search and eventual killing of Osama bin Laden. I thought this was an interesting review because it focused on one aspect of the film, the torture of detainees in questioning. The overall evaluation focuses on the approaches the director took to explain the story, and how they can be interpreted by the viewers. It explains how the representation of torture is a controversy today and how society has different stances or opinions on the matter. The review states that "The abuse scenes are crucial to “Zero Dark Thirty” because they serve as a claim — one made cinematically rather than with speeches — that these interrogation methods are unreliable when it comes to producing actionable information". By setting this criteria as a way to evaluate the film, the review describes how the movie is set up in a way to be interpreted by the viewers. The criteria set up may be the overall message, the way it was filmed, or how the director put this controversy into scenes within the movie. I think that the author effectively matched the film being evaluated to the criteria established by fully explaining their thoughts on its portrayal. The review of the actors and film work supports what the movie was all about. It is clearly a positive view of the film, but with a full analysis of what that entails. The director, Kathryn Bigelow and her work is described as "unexpectedly stunning, at once bold and intimate: she has a genius for infusing even large-scale action set pieces with the human element". This review efficiently establishes criteria and evaluates the movie based on their claims.