“Zero Dark Thirty”: The Ashes Of American Flags

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by Jefferson Robbins Kathryn Bigelow's Zero
Dark Thirty
is politically abhorrent, an ideologue's digest
of how torture "works" on behalf of democratic governments seeking to
defend from or avenge themselves upon terrorism. There's no debate: by
means of torture, CIA operative Maya (Jessica Chastain) digs her way
from Osama bin Laden's outer network to his inner circle, one, two,
three. As journalist Malcolm
Harris
put it, "That Kathryn Bigelow used to be involved in left aesthetics
should make us shiver in fear about who we may yet become." But subtly,
in the way Bigelow presents her lead character's view of the
battlefield and the flag under which she strives, Zero Dark
Thirty
betrays mixed feelings about its own ramifications.

Start with the heroine's name: "Maya" in Sanskrit is the illusion
of reality that we all experience, which creates a false division
between our selves and the wider universe, and ultimately becomes the
source of all suffering. ("Maya" also ranks among the top 2,000 most popular names for
girls in America. We like our illusions.) Practically all the
information Maya gathers through the course of the film is obtained
through intermediaries, or through filters. Never once does she punch
or strip or waterboard a detainee, but she's there when it happens, and
occasionally gives the orders that make it happen. What she does not
take away from in-person interrogations, she gathers by the medium of
the video screen.

Screen shot 2013-04-08 at 8.45.29 PM

A great portion of Zero
Dark Thirty
deals with Maya's gradual inurement to seeing.
She starts off visibly sickened by the acts she's party to. Agents
around her, like the brutal field op Dan (Jason Clarke), try to shield
her from direct involvement. "There's no shame in watching on the
monitor," says Dan, who keeps pet monkeys at Bagram Airbase in a cage
more spacious than the box into which he shuts captured al-Quaeda
informant Ammar (Reda Kateb).

But Maya hardens, as one must, at least on the surface. Soon
she's leading interrogations on her own, and perusing the
videorecordings of other torture victims for clues to bin Laden's
refuge. She rubs her eyes at footage of humiliated men hanging by their
wrists and grilled for intel, but that could just be the fatigue of a
long night's cram session. Soon enough, she's chatting by satphone with
her colleague Jessica (Jennifer Ehle) while watching a drone strike
that appears to have no more consequence for her than a Pringles ad.

Screen shot 2013-04-08 at 8.46.06 PM

These screens through which Maya views horror tend to pixellate, their
images breaking down into the component bits that make up the whole.
This is an effect we experience, even in the age of high-definition
displays and phenomenal video bitrates, when we lean too close to our
monitors. A bit or pixel by itself is the most basic unit of
information, but it's useless without context. Try to build a house out
of one brick and see how far you get. Maya is gathering bricks, and
soon they're all she can see.

Screen shot 2013-04-08 at 8.46.46 PM
Screen shot 2013-04-08 at 8.47.04 PM
Screen shot 2013-04-08 at 8.47.29 PM
Screen shot 2013-04-08 at 8.47.44 PM

As Maya works, the American flag intrudes on her periphery. For the
most part, it hangs limp as she interacts with fellow agents in
bunkered, insulated CIA stations. It's presented as a mundane office
object, always to one side of the frame, never intruding or signaling
sharp meaning.

Screen shot 2013-04-08 at 8.48.34 PM
Screen shot 2013-04-08 at 8.48.09 PM

At Camp Chapman, the pivot point for the entire film, the flag snaps
awake in the wind and forcefully imprints on our awareness. It is
doubled in one shot–a shot that if held for a few more languorous
frames would smack of Terrence Malick–by the billowing camouflage
netting that shelters Jessica while she awaits a crucial rendezvous.

Screen shot 2013-04-08 at 8.49.00 PM
Screen shot 2013-04-08 at 8.50.15 PM

The flag is pristine; the netting that mirrors it, of course, is ragged
and full of holes. The symbol is transmuting before our eyes.


Screen shot 2013-04-08 at 8.50.45 PM

Jessica's death in the field radicalizes Maya with a new sense of
exceptionalism: "I believe I was spared so I can finish the job," she
says. This is a very American sentiment. When Maya presents her
evidence that bin Laden resides in an Abbottabad compound, when she's
undercut by her male colleagues, when she identifies herself to the
chief of the CIA as "the motherfucker that found this place," the
American flag is perched on her shoulder. Upon entering the room, in
fact, she's directed to sit next to it.

Screen shot 2013-04-08 at 8.59.19 PM

Maya goes on to observe the Abbottabad raid–again, from a distance–and confirm the assassination of bin Laden. Her job completed with a
simple nod of the head, she then boards a C-17 for home, takes her
place, and begins to weep.

Screen shot 2013-04-08 at 8.45.00 PM

Maya sits against sagging red cargo netting strung across white
acoustic quilting–the ragged flag again. The dusk light is on her
ivory skin. The woman who portrayed a Universal Mother in Malick's The
Tree of Life
is here the symbolic mother of a nation,
wounded and wilting, frayed by the bloody work done in delivering it.

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30 Comments

  1. tom

    to paste what i wrote when this debate was at its most furious:
    surely the lack of triumphalism in the treatment of bin laden’s death allows the film to evade such pro-torture readings? maybe i’m alone in finding that final set piece to be the saddest of the lot, revealing this goal strived for with such fervor for so long to be just another ugly scene balancing the books against a series of other ugly scenes, sagging under the sickening weight of the situation’s overall cost and providing little if any catharsis. it’s all there in a soldier’s throwaway line, isn’t it? “what a mess”.
    in fact, if anything the worst scenes of the final half hour involve the film heavy-handedly forcing this point home by lingering on the face of a soldier as he can’t look away from the terrified faces of young/female occupants, and of course the emphasis on maya’s lack of relief; this isn’t a happy ending precisely because it’s the inevitable end-product of a war characterised by an atmosphere that nurtures, among many other disturbing things, pro-torture politics.

  2. tom

    to paste what i wrote when this debate was at its most furious:
    surely the lack of triumphalism in the treatment of bin laden’s death allows the film to evade such pro-torture readings? maybe i’m alone in finding that final set piece to be the saddest of the lot, revealing this goal strived for with such fervor for so long to be just another ugly scene balancing the books against a series of other ugly scenes, sagging under the sickening weight of the situation’s overall cost and providing little if any catharsis. it’s all there in a soldier’s throwaway line, isn’t it? “what a mess”.
    in fact, if anything the worst scenes of the final half hour involve the film heavy-handedly forcing this point home by lingering on the face of a soldier as he can’t look away from the terrified faces of young/female occupants, and of course the emphasis on maya’s lack of relief; this isn’t a happy ending precisely because it’s the inevitable end-product of a war characterised by an atmosphere that nurtures, among many other disturbing things, pro-torture politics.

  3. tom

    to paste what i wrote when this debate was at its most furious:
    surely the lack of triumphalism in the treatment of bin laden’s death allows the film to evade such pro-torture readings? maybe i’m alone in finding that final set piece to be the saddest of the lot, revealing this goal strived for with such fervor for so long to be just another ugly scene balancing the books against a series of other ugly scenes, sagging under the sickening weight of the situation’s overall cost and providing little if any catharsis. it’s all there in a soldier’s throwaway line, isn’t it? “what a mess”.
    in fact, if anything the worst scenes of the final half hour involve the film heavy-handedly forcing this point home by lingering on the face of a soldier as he can’t look away from the terrified faces of young/female occupants, and of course the emphasis on maya’s lack of relief; this isn’t a happy ending precisely because it’s the inevitable end-product of a war characterised by an atmosphere that nurtures, among many other disturbing things, pro-torture politics.

  4. Jacob

    Yeah, she squirts a few at the end (torture demands so much of us torturers), but it just lends dignity to the sacrifice of her humanity in the name of something greater. This isn’t a movie that makes you less resolved to kill. The most effective way for a modern mind to sidestep its conscience is to eulogize it this way.

  5. Jacob

    Yeah, she squirts a few at the end (torture demands so much of us torturers), but it just lends dignity to the sacrifice of her humanity in the name of something greater. This isn’t a movie that makes you less resolved to kill. The most effective way for a modern mind to sidestep its conscience is to eulogize it this way.

  6. Jacob

    Yeah, she squirts a few at the end (torture demands so much of us torturers), but it just lends dignity to the sacrifice of her humanity in the name of something greater. This isn’t a movie that makes you less resolved to kill. The most effective way for a modern mind to sidestep its conscience is to eulogize it this way.

  7. Jacob

    And this mother of a nation thing–an aryan goddess shedding tears through necessary bloodshed–couldn’t smack more of fascist propaganda.

  8. Jacob

    And this mother of a nation thing–an aryan goddess shedding tears through necessary bloodshed–couldn’t smack more of fascist propaganda.

  9. Jacob

    And this mother of a nation thing–an aryan goddess shedding tears through necessary bloodshed–couldn’t smack more of fascist propaganda.

  10. tom

    there is nothing “great” about bin laden’s death in ZDT, the entire final act is infused with numb, deflated futility. bigelow’s point is that it *wasn’t* worth it, there’s zero dignity to be found, this woman has become a lonely, hollowed-out husk with just this grotty fucking corpse to show for it. the books are balanced, the numbers equate, but the human cost is immeasurable. the despairing shake of the head, the “what a mess…” — that’s bigelow’s thesis right there.
    i do think boal confuses the issue somewhat with his crappy script though.

  11. tom

    there is nothing “great” about bin laden’s death in ZDT, the entire final act is infused with numb, deflated futility. bigelow’s point is that it *wasn’t* worth it, there’s zero dignity to be found, this woman has become a lonely, hollowed-out husk with just this grotty fucking corpse to show for it. the books are balanced, the numbers equate, but the human cost is immeasurable. the despairing shake of the head, the “what a mess…” — that’s bigelow’s thesis right there.
    i do think boal confuses the issue somewhat with his crappy script though.

  12. tom

    there is nothing “great” about bin laden’s death in ZDT, the entire final act is infused with numb, deflated futility. bigelow’s point is that it *wasn’t* worth it, there’s zero dignity to be found, this woman has become a lonely, hollowed-out husk with just this grotty fucking corpse to show for it. the books are balanced, the numbers equate, but the human cost is immeasurable. the despairing shake of the head, the “what a mess…” — that’s bigelow’s thesis right there.
    i do think boal confuses the issue somewhat with his crappy script though.

  13. Manny Kreisman

    Disagree with the claim that the Abbotobad Scene in ZDT wasn’t meant to be “great” or register as anything but a complete triumph. And it should be. It is the most successful American military operation in decades and filmed as such, its Bigelows Tour De Force and anything but numbing or deflating. And if Bigelow wanted to Show Maya as a husk of a human than she probably shouldn’t cast the worlds most ethereal beauty in the part and shoot her final scene in gorgeous magic hour lighting.

  14. Manny Kreisman

    Disagree with the claim that the Abbotobad Scene in ZDT wasn’t meant to be “great” or register as anything but a complete triumph. And it should be. It is the most successful American military operation in decades and filmed as such, its Bigelows Tour De Force and anything but numbing or deflating. And if Bigelow wanted to Show Maya as a husk of a human than she probably shouldn’t cast the worlds most ethereal beauty in the part and shoot her final scene in gorgeous magic hour lighting.

  15. Manny Kreisman

    Disagree with the claim that the Abbotobad Scene in ZDT wasn’t meant to be “great” or register as anything but a complete triumph. And it should be. It is the most successful American military operation in decades and filmed as such, its Bigelows Tour De Force and anything but numbing or deflating. And if Bigelow wanted to Show Maya as a husk of a human than she probably shouldn’t cast the worlds most ethereal beauty in the part and shoot her final scene in gorgeous magic hour lighting.

  16. tom

    if all you see is glory when bigelow’s lingering on the horrified face of a soldier processing the screams of women and children, or realistically depicting the brutal slaughter of indistinguishable enemies, or indeed showing maya’s numb, exhausted reaction to identifying the body as bin laden, then there’s nothing left to discuss i suppose.

  17. tom

    if all you see is glory when bigelow’s lingering on the horrified face of a soldier processing the screams of women and children, or realistically depicting the brutal slaughter of indistinguishable enemies, or indeed showing maya’s numb, exhausted reaction to identifying the body as bin laden, then there’s nothing left to discuss i suppose.

  18. tom

    if all you see is glory when bigelow’s lingering on the horrified face of a soldier processing the screams of women and children, or realistically depicting the brutal slaughter of indistinguishable enemies, or indeed showing maya’s numb, exhausted reaction to identifying the body as bin laden, then there’s nothing left to discuss i suppose.

  19. Well done Jefferson for the article, and it’s a nice companion to Angelo’s original review.
    I remember watching an episode of the post-911 TV series Threat Matrix in the early 90s, within which one of the characters knowingly tortured a terror suspect to death by feeding him citrus (to which he had an allergy), and in a subsequent courtoom episode the torturer was acquitted (and their actions implicitly vindicated) because the torture yielded results. It honestly reminded me of what an East German TV show from 1961 glorifying the Stasi would have looked like.
    I also remember watching the post-911 episode of The West Wing within which a character sought to explain middle eastern politics on a fucking blackboard, implicitly patronising the audience aschildren, and leading to the stunning conclusion that “Al-qaeda=KKK” Well no, it didn’t then and doesn’t now.
    Then there’s Zero Dark Thirty. I think it was unusually brave for an American film to be this morally complex and let its audience decide whether losing your soul justifies being king (or queen) of the world-the Hays code and its demand for morally pat endings still casts a long shadow, and kudos to Bigelow for not yielding to the easy option.

  20. Well done Jefferson for the article, and it’s a nice companion to Angelo’s original review.
    I remember watching an episode of the post-911 TV series Threat Matrix in the early 90s, within which one of the characters knowingly tortured a terror suspect to death by feeding him citrus (to which he had an allergy), and in a subsequent courtoom episode the torturer was acquitted (and their actions implicitly vindicated) because the torture yielded results. It honestly reminded me of what an East German TV show from 1961 glorifying the Stasi would have looked like.
    I also remember watching the post-911 episode of The West Wing within which a character sought to explain middle eastern politics on a fucking blackboard, implicitly patronising the audience aschildren, and leading to the stunning conclusion that “Al-qaeda=KKK” Well no, it didn’t then and doesn’t now.
    Then there’s Zero Dark Thirty. I think it was unusually brave for an American film to be this morally complex and let its audience decide whether losing your soul justifies being king (or queen) of the world-the Hays code and its demand for morally pat endings still casts a long shadow, and kudos to Bigelow for not yielding to the easy option.

  21. Well done Jefferson for the article, and it’s a nice companion to Angelo’s original review.
    I remember watching an episode of the post-911 TV series Threat Matrix in the early 90s, within which one of the characters knowingly tortured a terror suspect to death by feeding him citrus (to which he had an allergy), and in a subsequent courtoom episode the torturer was acquitted (and their actions implicitly vindicated) because the torture yielded results. It honestly reminded me of what an East German TV show from 1961 glorifying the Stasi would have looked like.
    I also remember watching the post-911 episode of The West Wing within which a character sought to explain middle eastern politics on a fucking blackboard, implicitly patronising the audience aschildren, and leading to the stunning conclusion that “Al-qaeda=KKK” Well no, it didn’t then and doesn’t now.
    Then there’s Zero Dark Thirty. I think it was unusually brave for an American film to be this morally complex and let its audience decide whether losing your soul justifies being king (or queen) of the world-the Hays code and its demand for morally pat endings still casts a long shadow, and kudos to Bigelow for not yielding to the easy option.

  22. Saif Khan

    Where’s the original review?

  23. Saif Khan

    Where’s the original review?

  24. Saif Khan

    Where’s the original review?

  25. @Saif: Ain’t gone anywhere, though I accidentally linked another site’s review under Related Articles. Fixed.

  26. @Saif: Ain’t gone anywhere, though I accidentally linked another site’s review under Related Articles. Fixed.

  27. @Saif: Ain’t gone anywhere, though I accidentally linked another site’s review under Related Articles. Fixed.

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