“Zero Dark Thirty” as an Anti-American Propaganda Film

The movie will not play well in lot of other countries, and the problem will not always have to do with torture. There are some disconcerting scenes depicting the C.I.A.’s ability to listen to phone calls and watch buildings and people throughout the world. Despite all the controversy about torture, “Zero Dark Thirty” has the potential to scare the world-wide public with the image of the U.S. as a menacing big brother. A theme in the movie is that the “detainee” interrogations, torture, led to the identification of the identity of a person who eventually led the C.I.A. to Bin Laden’s hideout. But a video clip shows that Obama has become president, and he announces that the U.S. will not use torture. Then later in the film there are statements by C.I.A. agents indicating that without the detainee interrogations their hands are tied, at least to some extent. In this dialogue Maya, the heroine, makes a comment about detainees at Gitmo “lawyering up.” In my view, this underscores the very American nature of this film as it shows the disregard for the rule of law exhibited by the United States during both the Bush and Obama administrations. And again, this disregard for rule-of-law values may not sit well with foreign audiences.

Pretty much what I got from the movie when I saw it.