Lets begin! Edit, The Inter-Services Intelligence agency, the Pakistani equivalent of the CIA and FBI combined. This was to avoid blowing the covers of the real-life agents whose stories are depicted on screen. Update, Jan. 16: While Cheque was named as a member of Seal Team 6, the government has never confirmed whether he was involved in the Bin Laden raid. Members of Congress have called for investigations into whether classified information was shared. Zero Dark Thirty ***MINIMAL SPOILERS*** Director Kathryn Bigelow has done it again by putting out a superior product. Zero Dark Thirty is, however, a little bit different. She has experienced violence, witnessed violence, been the target of violence, lost friends to violence, abetted violence. Available on Prime Video, iTunes, HBO Max. Scheuer called the description, which found its way into multiple media reports, false and a caricature. Have always wondered why during the cafeteria scene in Zero Dark Thirty, Maya thinks she isn't allowed to disclose the reason she was recruited straight out of high school. Maya is young and delicate-looking, with flowing red hair that is only seen when she pulls off the hood she wears . Is she suggesting that the attempt to kill bin Laden is a crucial element in the effort to prevent such attacks? Zero Dark Thirty, which opens nationwide January 11th, is a white-knuckle look at the decade-long hunt for bin Laden, which virtually ignores party politics. But the ending isnt about Maya, its about the viewers interpretations; one is sent off with a litany of talking points. Carrie is, of course, onlyloosely modeled on an actual CIA officer,so its entirely possible that the writers of Homeland did not take these traits from their real-life inspiration, but rather added them to the character in order to propel the narrative of their series. Why does Bigelow show only ones associated with Al Qaeda? Unlike the NSA, the CIA has more diverse assets that function in broader spectrums. Ultimately, Zero Dark Thirty is a strikingly accurate film when it comes to recreating the details of the years leading up to the capture and the decisive mission itself. Though viewers know that the Navy SEAL raid on the Abbottabad compound was successfulmeaning that bin Laden was killed and the soldiers got out safe and soundthe staging of it, filled with twists, turns, pitfalls, near-misses, is done with heart-pounding energy, alternating between views of the soldiers and their own point of view, through their infrared night-vision goggles. waterboarding) in order to seek out information about al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden (Ricky Sekhon), becomes obsessed with the search. | Scheuer disputes that the CIA was at fault. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. (This turn of events is depicted in Zero Dark Thirty.) Maya is a CIA operative whose first experience is in the interrogation of prisoners following the Al Qaeda attacks against the U.S. on the 11th September 2001. She has sparred with CIA colleagues over credit for the bin Laden mission. Jessica Chastain, as Maya, in Zero Dark Thirty. Jessica Chastain who plays the CIA analyst is absolutely incredible. The dogma of ambiguity infects much of the so-called art cinema, a talking-points cinema that passes for cinematic art, such as Michael Hanekes films (including Amour, coming out December 25th) and Christian Petzolds Barbara (coming out December 21st). The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. As stated in the movie, this was a new top-secret stealth version of the Black Hawk helicopter that had never been used in combat before. As the paper noted, Danes has said that her character is loosely modeled on an actual CIA officer whom she has met at Langley. It's intense, 2.5 hours long, and worth every minute. Do you know how many CIA officers are jerks? the former official said. The purpose of Zero Dark Thirty is to portray the trials and efforts behind finding Osama Bin Laden. Metacritic Reviews. Have always wondered why during the cafeteria scene in Zero Dark Thirty, Maya thinks she isn't allowed to disclose the reason she was recruited straight out of high school. After several years of pursuing leads, Maya believes that she may have found his whereabouts, and a U.S. Navy SEAL team is sent out to kill or capture bin Laden. But the question was first raisedsort of, anywaymonths ago. In fact, the movie presents torture as a seemingly inevitable outcome of the attacks. Whatever it was probably has some level of classification. about one hour too long. The implication seems to be that Jessica is that mother, whose real name was Jennifer Lynne Matthews. Did Maya not have sex for ten years? Why did she accept? Despite the filmmakers skill, the movie is nonetheless something of a litmus testhow a viewer reacts to the mission itself will likely be determined by how the viewer feels about bin Laden, the American military, and the so-called war on terror. This is worth watching ONCE. This week, Nate Silver reported on the Times Web site on how the numbers shake out politically (short answer: thirty-one per cent of Democrats and fifty-six per cent of Republicans own guns). In the film Zero Dark Thirty, she was the persistent, conscientious CIA officer who finally tracked Osama bin Laden to his lair. If you haven't seen Argo, that's another one to see. The CIA had granted the filmmakers unprecedented access to agency officials, and outlets from NBC News to the New Yorker reported that Chastains character was patterned partially on Scheuer, citing her position but omitting her name because the agency said her work was classified. It also provided valuable intelligence; terrorists the world over are notorious for keeping extensive records for everything they do. whose spare-tire cover was emblazoned with an image of a white rhino and was eventually tracked down to the compound where Bin Laden was hiding. In 2002, red-haired CIA analyst Alfreda Scheuer, then known by her maiden name Bikowsky, traveled to a secret CIA prison to watch the torture of al-Qaida suspect Abu Zubaydah, who was waterboarded and locked in a dog box, Senate investigators reported. The raid itself is one long boring anti-climax, pretty much like the rest of this movie. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Officials said the woman was given a cash bonus for her work on the bin Laden mission and has since moved on to a new counterterrorism assignment. She said her role was as a subject matter expert, not an interrogator. The wig, everything. . According to news reports, the suicide bomber was a trusted source who turned out to be a double agent working for al-Qaeda. And if there is any deeper connection between Carrie and Maya, we are not likely to know about it any time soon. Rated R. Our ratings: V -7; L -7; S/N -2. She is a reluctant participant in extreme duress applied to the detainees, but believes that the truth may only be obtained through such tactics. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. Zero Dark Thirty. Is this an image of solitude, exhaustion, regret, existential purposelessness, or just goodbye? He argued for reality apart from filmmakers interpretations of events depicted, argued for real time, in which things exist, against mental and abstract time.. Its constructed like a roller-coaster ride, with its thrills and scares, which the viewer knows will result in successat least, success as defined by those who are involved in the mission. Why did the SEAL team destroy the downed chopper? Overly hyped movie~ Jessica Chastain is solid as the youthful CIA INTELLIGENCE person "Maya" who recruited out of high school wants to "get ahead" in her job. In his opposition to the films torture scenes, Senator John McCain reportedly linked Ammar to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, noting that the enhanced interrogation techniques did not provide [them] with key leads on bin Ladens courier, Abu Ahmed. (In the film, Ammar eventually does provide them with that information.) He was pardoned by President George HW Bush before trial. All of the attacks depicted are based on real events but they are strung together as a connected narrative for the sake of the story; e.g., Maya being in the Marriott at the time of the bombing, which they were not in real life. Maya, the film's main character, spends a The much-discussed opening scene of Zero Dark Thirty features the main character Maya, played by Jessica Chastain, observing a detainee at a Though Zero Dark Thirty refers to Maya being recruited to the CIA out of high Were so many of the manhunts heroes really women? By: Andrew James, Landon Green, Ryan Randell. In the final scene, she leans her head back against the wall and starts to cry. The female officer, who is in her 30s, is the model for the main character in Zero Dark Thirty,a film that chronicles thedecade-long hunt for the al-Qaeda chief and that critics are describing as an Academy Award front-runner even before its Dec. 19 release. This assignment is more important now than when she was hired if only because of 9/11 and the knowledge that Al Qaeda was responsible. After shes killed, a news report provides voiceover to the scene, mentioning that among the CIA employees killed in the attack was a mother of three. Alfreda Frances Bikowsky (born 1965) is a Central Intelligence Agency officer who has headed the Bin Laden Issue Station and the Global Jihad unit. December 28, 2012. | Stills from Zero Dark Thirty by Jonathan Olley / 2012 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All rights reserved. But the juxtaposition is striking. Former CIA officials said agency enthusiasm for the film has been tempered as details about it have surfaced, including the fact that the movie opens with a harrowing waterboarding scene in a secret CIA prison. My theory is that the ROTC scholarship programs are fronts for CIA recruitment right out of high school Technically the CIA can attach military personnel to it for national security purposes, presumably even without their knowledge. Though his actual identity is now known, he seems to have kept a relatively low profile since leaving Pakistan; we were unable to find a publicly available photograph of him. There's no Cheney, Bush or Rumsfeld . Someone that thinks naturally and has not been training into common box thinking. Direction was excellent but the story leaves us a little overly lacking in caring due to the long length of the movie~. The scene where the CIA agents in Pakistan are accosted by two armed men on motorbikes is based on a genuine incident, but in real life the CIA officer killed them both. (Photos credited to Matthews family have since been used in articles, but Slate could not be sure by press time whether any were publicly available.) Answer (1 of 3): Towards the end of the movie Maya is eating in the CIA cafeteria and the head of the CIA joins her. I got that title because I was in the arena, she said. What famous person essentially cancelled themselves Press J to jump to the feed. Chances are she did something in high school that caught the CIAs attention. But only Maya is confident Bin Laden is where she says he is. 1 at the box office.While critics and political . The movies release was delayed amid criticism that it amounted to a reelection ad for President Obama. by the time we got the "final showdown" we are a bit disappointed by it. While some of the movies details differ slightlyMaya is recruited out of high school, not college, before working on the operation for a full decadeother Jen-related passages from the book read like the shooting script for Zero Dark Thirty. Killing Osama bin Laden himself was not nearly as important as capturing the vast number of records on his organisation he kept in the house. I wanted to say what an outstanding portrayal was done by the lead actress, but I got a message from eBay saying they won't allow a potty mouth so i'll suffice in calling her Jessica C. Verified purchase: After September 11th 2001, CIA rookie agent Maya is assigned to Pakistan to learn how to torture and seek out Osama Bin Laden. In the film, Maya watches an al-Qaida suspect get waterboarded and locked in a tiny compartment. NEW YORK -- The Washington Post ran a front-page story Tuesday about the CIA agent who serves as the model for Maya, one of the the main characters in "Zero Dark Thirty," a much-anticipated film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Below weve taken our best shot at identifying the inspirations behind the characters in the film. Yet, as debate in the wake of the Newtown murders revealed, theres a peculiar aspect to the argument made by partisans of gun control. For instance: there were plenty of explosions worldwide in the decade that followed September 11, 2001. She then boards a transport plane where she is told to sit anywhere because hers is the only name on the manifest. She wasn't an ops officer (what most would commonly call a 'spy'), but she served more in what could be called a clerical position. Actor Stephen Dillane by The heated topic of the ethics of torture has spilled over into the upcoming confirmation hearings for current White House anti-terrorism chief John Brennan, who has been nominated by President Obama to be the next CIA director. (His marriage to a Muslim woman was the catalyst for this conversion.) By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. Is there a tune copied from the Telugu film Leader? | The film is a cinematic page-turner, constructed on a simple architecture: the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden, mainly from the perspective of a C.I.A. The screenplay was written by American journalist/screenwriter Mark Boal. It is one thing to sit. The highly anticipated film "Zero Dark Thirty" hits theaters Friday after limited release, but the internet is already abuzz over a line that has people scratching their heads. A 2 hour 46 minute YAWN!!! After joining Alec Station, Scheuer rose to deputy chief and then, she says, its chief. Maya, like all the characters, like anyone, is filled with thoughts, with an endless flow of internal monologue, with ideas and memories, self-justifications and self-doubts. What did she put on hold in her pursuit for bin Laden? The compound where UBL was found was rebuilt in a different Middle East country, and the details were totally spot on and believable. In fact, I raised my hand loud and proud and you know, I dont regret it at all.. ***MINIMAL SPOILERS*** Director Kathryn Bigelow has done it again by putting out a superior product. The naysayers who thought her previous hit, "The Hurt Locker" was a fluke/had help from her famous ex-husband James Cameron ( Titanic, Avatar and others) were incorrect and hopefully this movie will shut the naysayers up once . The thrust of her message, the former official said, was: You guys tried to obstruct me. Both are professionally devoted to avenging the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11although Carrie seems more concerned with future attacks, while Maya is focused on getting Bin Laden. Zero Dark Thirty . 05/18/2014 10:08 Subject: Who is the real Maya in Zero Dark Thirty? But the female targeter was one of the people from very early on pushing this courier approach. Back in September, the Daily Mail wondered whether a female CIA operative referred to as Jen in No Easy Day, the book about the Bin Laden hunt by one of the Navy SEALs who carried it out, was the inspiration for the character played by Danes on her hit Showtime series. It's entertaining but unfortunately a true story. Though Zero Dark Thirty refers to Maya being recruited to the CIA out of high school, No Easy Day says that she was recruited out . | He asks how she joined the Agency and her reply is along the lines of: "I was recruited out of High School." When he asks for more detail she says she's not allowed to say. Silhouette of a dog by iStockphoto. "Relentless" is the right word to describe this young . Bigelow is more accomplishedshe works harder to reproduce more thoroughly the events she stages and she depicts them in greater detail and with greater energybut her mode of representation is no more original. Although they were suspicious, it was simply too good an opportunity to pass up, and they considered it worth the risk. In fact, so accurate is the depiction of the events in the film that its makers had to be extra cautious during the casting process. Interestingly, after retiring in 2021, Scheuer revealed in an interview that she was recruited to the agency right out of college by the late Duane Dewey Clarridge, who founded the CIAs counterterrorism center. The female officer, who is in her 30s, is the model for the main character in "Zero Dark Thirty,"a film that chronicles the decade-long hunt for the al-Qaeda chief and that critics are . While there, Danes met in the hallway the man who was the head of the Pakistani division and had just returned to the U.S. (after the killing of Osama bin Laden)., Danes doesnt draw any line between that mission and her characters (loose) inspiration, and it is possible, of course, that the man just happened to walk by. U.S. officials acknowledged that Boal met with Mayas real-life counterpart and other CIA officers, typically in the presence of someone from the agencys public affairs office. Since the identities of many of the films real-life inspirations are kept under wraps, it is widely assumed that Maya is based on an actual CIA agent referred to as Jen or Miss 100 Percent.. Zero Dark Thirty is the same kind of film, but even more so. (about 1:50:15). 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