Director defends 'Zero Dark Thirty' torture scenes
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Director Kathryn Bigelow defends torture scenes in her Oscar-nominated film "Zero Dark Thirty," saying torture was an undeniable part of the hunt for Osama bin Laden after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
The film opens by declaring it's based on firsthand accounts of actual events.
But Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and other lawmakers criticized the film as misleading for suggesting torture led to the location of bin Laden. Lawmakers asked Sony Pictures to attach a disclaimer that the film is fictional.
"Experts disagree sharply on the facts and particulars of the intelligence hunt, and doubtlessly that debate will continue," Bigelow wrote in the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday.
The comments were Bigelow's most explicit reaction to the controversy so far.
"As for what I personally believe, which has been the subject of inquiries, accusations and speculation, I think Osama bin Laden was found due to ingenious detective work," she continued. "Torture was, however, as we all know, employed in the early years of the hunt. That doesn't mean it was the key to finding bin Laden. It means it is a part of the story we couldn't ignore."
"War, obviously, isn't pretty, and we were not interested in portraying this military action as free of moral consequences," she added.
Bigelow wrote that torture was part of the story and the backlash may be misdirected.
"I do wonder if some of the sentiments alternately expressed about the film might be more appropriately directed at those who instituted and ordered these U.S. policies, as opposed to a motion picture that brings the story to the screen," she wrote.
Last week, Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal responded forcefully to a "Zero Dark Thirty" anti-Oscar campaign waged by Ed Asner and other Hollywood actors, saying "to punish an artist's right of expression is abhorrent."
Bigelow and "Zero Dark Thirty" screenwriter Mark Boal had said previously that they "depicted a variety of controversial practices and intelligence methods that were used in the name of finding bin Laden.
"The film shows that no single method was necessarily responsible for solving the manhunt, nor can any single scene taken in isolation fairly capture the totality of efforts the film dramatizes," they said.
The film opens by declaring it's based on firsthand accounts of actual events.
But Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and other lawmakers criticized the film as misleading for suggesting torture led to the location of bin Laden. Lawmakers asked Sony Pictures to attach a disclaimer that the film is fictional.
"Experts disagree sharply on the facts and particulars of the intelligence hunt, and doubtlessly that debate will continue," Bigelow wrote in the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday.
The comments were Bigelow's most explicit reaction to the controversy so far.
"As for what I personally believe, which has been the subject of inquiries, accusations and speculation, I think Osama bin Laden was found due to ingenious detective work," she continued. "Torture was, however, as we all know, employed in the early years of the hunt. That doesn't mean it was the key to finding bin Laden. It means it is a part of the story we couldn't ignore."
"War, obviously, isn't pretty, and we were not interested in portraying this military action as free of moral consequences," she added.
Bigelow wrote that torture was part of the story and the backlash may be misdirected.
"I do wonder if some of the sentiments alternately expressed about the film might be more appropriately directed at those who instituted and ordered these U.S. policies, as opposed to a motion picture that brings the story to the screen," she wrote.
Last week, Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal responded forcefully to a "Zero Dark Thirty" anti-Oscar campaign waged by Ed Asner and other Hollywood actors, saying "to punish an artist's right of expression is abhorrent."
Bigelow and "Zero Dark Thirty" screenwriter Mark Boal had said previously that they "depicted a variety of controversial practices and intelligence methods that were used in the name of finding bin Laden.
"The film shows that no single method was necessarily responsible for solving the manhunt, nor can any single scene taken in isolation fairly capture the totality of efforts the film dramatizes," they said.
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 @TheUglyTruth until a fellow american gets tortured....
Regardless of the controversy,I think the film was freakin awesome.Well directed.Not very many movies have me sitting on the edge of my seat.Ive seen all of the nominated movies and this was my favorite.Lincoln was my second favorite.
Water board a couple of terrorists and save thousands of people. I don't see the problem.
 @Pointblank ask john mccain how he feels about torture
 @Pointblank You think that's actually how it works?
After seeing "The Hurt Locker" and not being impressed, I don't think I will take the time to see this. If you're looking for Oscar films right now, "Life of Pi" and "Silver Linings Playbook" are good choices.
 @GNTLwarrior I don't think so, both look boring.Â
Everyone knows this is a FILM right?
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I mean JFK WAS assassinated but no one takes the Costner film "JFK" as a documentary do they?
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Indeed there is a legal school of thought that says one MUST put some literary and artistic elements into a film or they cannot copyright it (history cannot be copyrighted, only commentary). So if you created a film that was PERFECLTY reflective of history, anyone could also make one just like it and they would not need to pay you any royalties.
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Map makers often put errors in call "trap streets" to catch would be intellectual property thieves in the act. These are non-existent streets that only show up in the map the creator prints. If they show up in your, you copied theirs and broke the law.
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Maybe the water boarding incident is a "trap street". A fake event put in to both add dramatic effect and make a claim.
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