Member review

According to Metacritic, Kathryn Bigelow’s true story war film depicting the near decade-long man hunt for Osama Bin Laden was the most critically-acclaimed film of 2012. It’s easy to see why. The tall task of creating a film where the audience would already know the ending going into it is one that I thought wouldn't be possible to achieve. I've never been happier to have been wrong. Bigelow’s direction of the protagonist Maya (Jessica Chastain), creates a fresh depiction of a female’s view of a female. With no male gaze present but still the undeniable beauty of Chastain, this film boldly proves that women do not have to be sexualized or degraded in any way and they can still be attractive and powerful. The journey we follow Maya through as Chastain gives us a performance layered with determination, fear and ferocity is an intense thrill ride. The film holds nothing back as it throws torture scenes at the audience as soon as it starts, painting the terrorists as victims and the Americans as the aggressors. This is a scarily brave statement that there are no good guys and once Maya finally gets her man, we’re left wondering to ourselves “Was all the bloodshed really worth it”? The ensemble cast all give fine performances that help to carry the film along, including one of the late great James Gandolfini's final ones before his untimely death earlier this year. The highly publicized raid on Bin Laden's Pakistani compound serves as the climax as the emotions of Maya are finally expressed and it is so immersing that you could cut the tension with a knife. You'll be forced to watch screaming children cower at the soldiers storming the fortress in a sequence shot almost entirely in POV night vision. By the end you'll be gasping for air at the sheer magnificence of its construction. A riveting watch, containing the perfect blend of action, strong writing and a final sequence so beautifully shot that it made me question the Academy’s choice not to nominate Bigelow for Best Director. In my opinion, this is better than what I’d call its companion piece, 2009's The Hurt Locker, which was my favourite film of the 2000s. I can’t recommend this title enough, don’t watch if you’re squeamish though, expect gruesome scenes of torture, violence and bad language throughout.