SENATE TO PROBE FILMMAKERS’ ACCESS TO CIA SECRETS

While some conservative lawmakers and commentators have praised the Zero Dark Thirty filmmakers for making a convincing case that the use of torture was justified in tracking down Osama bin Laden, several have also expressed concern that the film may have revealed too much about the inner workings of the CIA. Several liberals have also […]

STRONG LIMITED DEBUT FOR ZERO DARK THIRTY

Opening in limited release, Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty was the clear weekend winner on a per-theater basis. The movie, the object of attack by some critics for its suggestion that torture — or “enhanced interrogation” as its supporters euphemistically refer to it — played a valid role in the manhunt for Osama bin Laden, […]

CONTROVERSY MAY HAVE FUELED ZERO DARK THIRTY TICKET SALES

The controversy over the waterboarding scenes in Zero Dark Thirty has not hurt the film at the box office. TheWrap.com reported today (Thursday) that playing in five theaters on its opening day in New York and Los Angeles, the Kathryn Bigelow feature took in an estimated $124,848 — or an average $24,969 per theater, making […]

MCCAIN SAYS HE WAS SICKENED BY ZERO DARK 30 TORTURE CLAIM

Senator John McCain said on Tuesday that he was sickened by the suggestion in Zero Dark Thirty that waterboarding al-Qaeda’s No. 3 leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, helped provide information that led to the hiding place of Osama bin Laden. McCain, who himself endured 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of the North Vietnamese in the […]

DOES ZERO DARK 30 MAKE CASE FOR WATERBOARDING?

Films based on real people or real events inevitably stir up controversy between the filmmakers and those who claim that reality has been stage-managed for dramatic effect. Even before its release, Zero Dark Thirty is embroiled in controversy over the seeming suggestion that an al-Queda captive while waterboarded provided information that eventually led to the […]

LOACH GOES TO WAR AGAIN, THIS TIME AGAINST BUSH AND BLAIR

Ken Loach, who last came to the Cannes Film Festival four years ago, when he picked up the festival’s top Palme d’Or award for best film (The Wind that Shakes the Barley about the Irish battle for independence) has returned with a powerful muckraking movie condemning the Iraq War, Route Irish. While other films about […]