…one of the most important films to the US in the last decade.

Zero Dark Thirty has arguably become one of the most important films to the US in the last decade. On September 11th, 2001, a war was begun against the United States and the AL-Qaeda terrorist Osama Bin Laden for orchestrating one of the worst attacks on US soil. This tells the firsthand accounts of how the patriots in our country persevered to find him in a decade manhunt. The title of the movie is a military term for 12:30am or 0:30. This is the second half of the midnight hour when nighttime is at its darkest.

The film was nominated for 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actress for Jessica Chastain, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Screenplay but it won in a tie vote for Best Sound Editing. The film is directed by one of the most talented women in Hollywood and the Academy Award Winning director Kathryn Bigelow and it was written by Mark Boal. The pair worked together previously on the Academy Award winner for Best Picture in 2009, The Hurt Locker. Zero Dark Thirty has an amazing cast including Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Ehle, Jason Clarke, Mark Strong, Joel Edgerton, and Chris Pratt.

Now, let me be clear: there are parts of this movie that may be hard to see and hear due to the graphic nature in the story telling. This isn’t meant to discourage you from watching it by any means but I’m simply trying to be informative.

Two years after 9/11, Maya (Chastain) is a very young, intimidated, and inexperienced CIA officer assigned to track down Osama Bin Laden or OBL as he is commonly referred to in the film. She is working with a seasoned CIA interrogator named Dan (Clarke) and they are based out of the US Embassy in Pakistan. After her first interrogation, it’s very easy to see that she has a tough time watching Dan’s methods of extracting information from detainees but she knows she can’t let anyone see her discomfort as a sign of weakness. As the years pass, the burden of the job has impacted Maya’s life and when she thought they had nothing, a new lead brings life to her otherwise meaningless bureaucratic daily routine.

Maya’s character isn’t one person but a composition of several people involved in the search for OBL. Jessica Chastain is an amazing actress and is a truly gifted in her craft. She first caught my eye in “The Help” but when she is on screen, you don’t just watch her performance but really feel her emotions. It didn’t surprise me at all that she was nominated for an Academy Award for this role. Her progression from this fresh and shy person to this cold shell of a person is brilliant. The cast that was chosen are a perfect fit for their characters and I’m very impressed with everyone’s performances. Kathryn Bigelow’s directing is a style of its own. Her last two films have this grittiness that works perfectly for the subject matter in the Middle East. She also has the ability, with Mark Boal, to take the audience inside the situation. For example, the final act of the film with SEAL Team Six, clearing the compound, and they radioed in “this is red zero-two, Geronimo! For god and country, Geronimo!” She has done an incredible job with this story and I really don’t think anyone could have put the story on screen with the same feeling.

This film has had a lot of controversy in its presentation of how the CIA treated detainees in the film. The trouble is that the methods of enhanced interrogation or “torture” depicted in the film are hearsay with no definitive proof. The filmmakers and writers have stated that what they have presented are firsthand accounts of what took place but the government is saying the film is over-dramatized as wells as pro-torture. Filmmakers need to be aware that they need to take ownership of what they release to the audience and that it can influence how the general public remembers the events. They might see that torturing people is an acceptable way to extract information because it gets the job done. On the other side of the coin, there are those that are smart enough to form their own opinions without outside influence. This will remain a controversial issue for years to come until hard facts surface on either side of the argument.

The Blu-ray release of this film is a beautiful example of how to utilize this media. The 1080p AVC transfer is simply brilliant on screen. The studio maintained the film grain with no edge enhancement or flaws that I could see and has a natural but gritty look. The video captures the beauty of the Middle East and the color tones in the clothing worn in the film. With most of the film shot against a dusty, arid background with mostly sand, the coloring of beiges has a clean contrast against both people and the sky. Another element I have to make note of is with Chastain’s fiery red hair. It’s a hue of deep red with some elements of orange mixed in that really stand out.

The DTS-HD Master Audio audio codec is pristine. The film made great use of all channels and has a very strong soundtrack. The derails of when the ropes ping against the flagpoles and the bullet shells clinking after being expended from the magazine are just examples of the care put into the sound. Also, the register in the bass channel is always clear when it’s used. But I think the most impressive piece of the audio is in the depth of the sound field. When there was an open explosion, the echo rang realistically outward until is dissipated in the distance. These components together have brought the film to life.

The supplements on this release are good but very few. The featurettes are short but they have some great behind the scenes info.

Special Features
-No Small Feat – This is a making of Zero Dark Thirty with some cast and crew interviews and story development.
-The Compound – This featurette is about the building and designing of the compound in the final portion of the movie.
-Geared Up – The cast are shown how they trained with Navy SEALs and their equipment.
-Targeting Jessica Chastain – A look at Maya’s character in the film.

Edition Ratings
Rated R

Disc Details
Two-disc set including the UltraViolet Digital Copy
1 Blu-ray Disc and 1 DVD

Region Code
Region A

Video Resolution
1080p MPEG-4 AVC

Audio
On the Blu-ray-
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English Dolby Digital 2.0

DVD-
English Dolby Digital 5.1
English Descriptive Audio 5.1
English Dolby 2.0

Subtitles on both the Blu-ray and DVD
English
English SDH
Spanish

Like I said, Kathryn Bigelow has really put her heart and soul into this film by taking such an important story that shows grittiness in how the investigation was handled.
There are some critics and movie goers that feel the subject matter was a bit too soon to film. I’m not one of those people because I believe getting a story while its fresh is the way to make a good film. Also, with the political backlash the film has received, I can only hope people can form their own opinions about it.

Even though the entire world knows the end of the story, you can’t help but to be on the edge of your seat. Aside from the lack of special features, the release is perfect and it does the film justice. If you’re looking to see an academy award winning film with government/military tones, Zero Dark Thirty fits the bill. In my opinion, it’s a flawless film and I highly recommend buying this without hesitation.

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