by Debra SweetYou must have heard about the film premiering tomorrow, Wednesday December 19 in NYC and Los Angeles: Zero Dark Thirty.
The title comes from slang for military time, 12:30 am, when the Navy Seals raided the house in Abbotabad and killed Osama bin Laden along with women and children in his family. That’s where the film ends. It begins, according to many people who have seen it, and to the director, Kathryn Bigelow, with 45 minutes of torture, including water-boarding.
The unmistakable point of this film is that torture was needed to find Osama bin Laden; therefore torture, even if the film makers don’t like it, or you don’t like viewing it, is necessary.
Why is this film a big deal? It’s already received 4 nominations for Golden Globe awards, and is being called a likely Best Film of the year for the Oscars. It is apparently very well written, produced, and has acting talent and a lot of suspense. But what is becoming — and should be — controversial is the degree to which the producers were given access to CIA documents, attended meetings with the CIA, and came up, with, essentially, the CIA’s view of the world, and of the so-called Global War on Terror.
What happened in NYC on 9/11/01 was a horror. But what was spread around the world by the Bush regime in response was an even greater horror. We will have a lot more to say on that as we protest this film over the next month. The film opens nationally, ironically or not, on Friday January 11th, the 11th anniversary of the US prison at Guantanamo.
This really demands immediate protest! I’m calling on everyone I’ve known from the terrible Bush years to come with me to the first showing of the film tomorrow morning. We’ll have orange jumpsuits if you want to make your own quiet statement; flyers to challenge people to think about, and reject, the message of the film, and signs. Or bring your own.
I will be attending the first showing, and I will not be shy about sharing what I think about the justification of torture. Not in Our Name!
AMC Loews 7 Theater
66 Third Avenue @ E. 11th Street
First show is 10:45 am
Meet @ theater 10:15 am
More info: (347) 581 2677