Fact or Fiction

Jeffrey Irvine
September 11th,2001…
 September 11th,2001
• September 11th, 2001 was a tragic day in the history of the
United States. 2,977 people lost their lives in the heinous
attack perpetrated by the terrorist group Al- Qaeda.

• Osama bin Laden was the obvious culprit in the attacks.

• The nation changed irreparably after this event, and a world-

wide manhunt would ensue for the next 10 years.
Most Wanted Man in History…
 War onTerror
• President George W. Bush and a coalition of many
other nations’ waged two wars over the next decade in
an effort to root out the terrorist groups in control.

• But the capture or killing of bin Laden proved elusive

for so long that it seemed as if he would never be
found.
Never EndingWars…
 The Man-HuntContinues
• May 1st, 2011, an elite team of Navy SEALS raided a
compound in Pakistan that was housing bin Laden.

• It was after this that we learned as a nation that the

most wanted man in US history had finally been taken
down.

• This was arguably the biggest news story of the century

so far.

• Naturally a film was in the works.

Zero DarkThirty…
 OneWoman’sQuest
• “Zero Dark Thirty” chronicles the story of one woman’s
decade long quest to capture or kill the known terrorist Osama
binLaden.

• The film, which was directed by Katheryn Bigelow, was

released less than 2 years after Bin Laden’s death.
Maya – C.I.A.Analyst…
 Controversy overTorture
• This film was initially conceived as an open ended
allusion to the unending war on terror.

• After the events of May 1st 2011, the filmmakers had to

scramble to change the ending of their film in order to
account for currentevents.

• A great deal of controversy surrounded the film upon its

release on December 19th, 2012. Members of the studio
and filmmaking team were called into question by Congress
about the movie’s depiction of torture.
TortureControversy…
 Attention toDetail
• The movie was filmed in a very engaging, almost documentary-like feel.
• There were an abundance of scenes that felt gritty and real, and the tension
was palpable throughout.
• In addition to this level of tension, was a fantastic attention to detail on part of the
filmmakers.
• The film was marketed as almost documentary-like by the amount of factual
evidence present, naturally the public was going to assume most of it was true.
• Senator John McCain alluded to the fact that the use of torture was not as crucial to
the eventual killing of bin Laden as the filmmakers would have you believe.
Depictions ofScope…
 OneWoman Job
• Zero DarkThirty would have you believe that this entire
manhunt was perpetrated by one person, the Maya character.
• In actuality the entire operation required countless
numbers of man-hours and personnel to complete.
• There were a number of reasons for this change, most of
which stem from the fact that showing scenes of people
filing paper work, and pouring over documents might not be
very fun to watch.
Action inPakistan…
 “Shooter”
• The person responsible for shooting bin Laden has become
referred to simply as Shooter by the press.
• He has discussed in depth his experiences during the mission as well as
the authenticity of what was presented in the film.
• The films depiction of the raid was actually pretty welldone
according to the SEALmember.
• His biggest complaints were of the amount of time the actual raid took, to
the amount of talking that the members used during the raid.
• This is impressive not only due to the technical requirements needed to
film these scenes, but also the highly secretivemanner in which the raid
playedout.
TheRaid…
 Impact of the Film
• Despite the issues with factual errors, and the controversysurrounding the
torture scenes depicted in the film, it still went on to become extremely
successful.
• Whether it was successful in delivering its message or not is really up to
who you ask.
• According to the films producer’s and the studio that developed the film
it was extremely successful financially as well ascritically.
• But there is a fairly large contingent of people involved in the Government and
the military who have not had such a kind response to the film.
• Ultimately I believe this has only added to the allure of the film and the
event that it is based offof.
TheDirector…