The movie that I watched was Zero dark thirty. This movie is about the CIA and more specifically one CIA agent named Maya tracking down Osama Bin Laden after the 911 terrorist attacks in New York city. This movie follows the journey of the CIA as they find out information about and ultimately kill Osama Bin Laden.
Of all the movies we previously watched this year which were “12 years a slave”, “Glory”, and “Smoke signals”. “12 years a slave” is the film that has the most in common with Zero dark thirty. It is most like 12 years a slave because like 12 years a slave, Zero dark thirty is based on a primary source but certain aspects of the movie were “dramatized” and “simplified” to make the movie not only more interesting to watch but also easier for the movie goers to understand and keep up with what is happening. If all aspects of the procedures and the work that went into finding Osama Bin Laden were shown anyone who is not a historian would have trouble keeping up with the and understanding things that are happening in the movie. Just like in 12 years a slave things were dramatized in Zero dark thirty to make the movie seem more appealing to everyday people so that they would not just think that it was just going to be a two hour boring movie about the logistics that went into finding Osama Bin Laden and ultimately killing him.
One of the main problems with the historical accuracy in Zero dark thirty was the torture scenes. According to a Washington post interview with a former CIA director who worked with the CIA from 2002-2009 the scenes of torture were greatly exaggerated. According to the CIA director not only were the torture scenes extremely exaggerated for example the interrogator putting a dog leash around the prisoner's neck and walking him around like a dog, also according to the CIA director people's arms were never hung from the roof as it was shown in the film. This was just put into the film to entertain the audience as Zero Dark Thirty is a Hollywood movie that wants to make money. Probably the most over exaggerated torture scene was the bucket of water being dumped non stop on the prisoner's head but in reality according to the CIA director small plastic water bottle were used slowly over the towel on the prisoner's head, not a giant bucket being dumped all at once with the risk of killing the prisoner that holds valuable information. While it is accurate that torture was used when trying to get information out of someone, the effectiveness of the torture in the movie was exaggerated. In the movie torture proved to be extremely effective in getting information out of people but realistically torture was not that effective in getting information.
Another inaccuracy with Zero dark thirty was how openly classified information was discussed. For example, when Maya was eating dinner the night the restaurant she was eating in got bombed just seconds before the bomb went off she was discussing classified information with another CIA agent in a very open restaurant where anyone could hear. The former CIA director simply said that this was laughable because no CIA agent would ever have such an open conversation about classified information. The last of the main historical accuracies was the demeanor and the way that the women killed in the suicide bombing in the army base behaved. This character was based on a CIA agent by the name of Jennifer. According to the CIA director Jennifer was a very serious women who would have never behaved the way that the actress in the movie portrayed her as a fun loving woman who was never serious.
All in all, “Zero Dark Thirty” is a movie that is based on a primary source but is dramatized to attract viewers. While some parts of Zero Dark Thirty were accurate like the way that the hunt for Osama Bin Laden was a 10 year marathon, and the way that the house that Osama Bin Laden was hiding in was shown with the giant walls surrounding it an three dozen people living inside, it contained many historical inaccuracies just like “12 years a slave”. Like 12 years a slave you can still learn many things from Zero Dark Thirty but it is not completely accurate and it contains some inaccuracies.
