Over at the Gospel Coalition, I’ve posted a review of Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar-nominated film about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. Here’s an exerpt:
In the aftermath of 9/11, a story was told to justify a rollback of human rights to both our enemies and our citizens. In the background, we have the fallen Twin Towers, the smoking wreckage of the Pentagon, and the crash of Flight 93—tragedies that stir us to action against evil and injustice. In this light, we tell a story about heroism and determination. But it’s also a story about Abu Ghraib, CIA drones, Guantanamo Bay, and rendition.
I wonder if, in some part, the controversy around this film is less about the tale it told than about the tale we wish it told. We don’t want sullied heroes. Especially in real life. We want to believe a national myth of “truth, justice, and the American way.” But reality is full of characters who swing wide arcs on a pendulum between darkness and light, heroes and villains, sinners and saints. We want to tell the story of bin Laden’s defeat without having to remember Abu Ghraib. We want redemption without confession.
Read the whole post here. The film releases on DVD today.
