Zero Hour

Word of the day:
                           plaudit
                                         : enthusiastic approval
                                         : an act or round of applause

Tonight's tourney picks:
James Madison over LIU-Brooklyn
Boise St. over LaSalle
(So far : Correct - 2  Incorrect - 0)

I'm a little late to the party for end-of-the-year 2012 films, but I'm glad I finally saw Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty, her justly acclaimed follow-up to the great, 2009 Oscar winner The Hurt Locker.  A detailed, propulsive, tense look at the decade-long hunt for Osama Bin Laden, it's a masterful film that is a triumph on every level: Grieg Fraser's cinematography; William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor's editing; Mark Boal's screenplay; set design; casting in every single role. 

It's ludicrous that the film courted so much controversy due to its "pro-torture" stance, a false allegation if there ever was one.  This film merely shows that torture took place, for better or worse, and that it both got and didn't get results - for better or for worse.  The film has no political agenda, supports no party, doesn't disparage or align itself with any political figure; anybody who claims otherwise is a conspiracy theorist and not to be trusted. 

The film is simply about the manhunt; characterization is sparse.  The film is streamlined and thorough as it follows the course of the complex investigation, full of lucky breaks and hard work, difficulties, tragedies, bombs, misinformation.  If there's anything discernibly personal in Bigelow's approach it could be in the notion that she finds a kindred spirit, a muse, in the film's main character Maya (Jessica Chastain), a determined, forceful woman in a field of men.

The siege of Bin Laden's compound at the end is beautifully orchestrated and exciting - despite the fact that we know how it will end.  Kudos too to Jason Clarke, in a terrific performance as a CIA officer often called upon to question suspects under extreme duress.         


*

I can't urge readers enough to try Alice Munro at least once in their lifetime.  Her 2012 short story collection Dear Life is reportedly her last work; the author has claimed that is all she has to say about fiction and her life.  It's a worthy work, 14 stories of memories and lifelong observations, autobiographical moments in time.  All the stories take place in Munro's native Canada, usually around Toronto after the second World War.   

Munro possesses a lovely prose style.  Akin to an Impressionist painter, she illuminates brief moments of time; the idea of things fleeting is characteristic of all Munro work.  Almost all of her work are short stories - 2004's Runaway and Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage (2001) are monumental works, must-reads. 



Images courtesy of: 

http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/jessica-chastain-zero-dark-thirty.jpg