Zero Dark Thirty, A Travesty

So today I have an issue that I need to talk about.  To be quite honest, it has been bothering me ever since I first saw the commercial on TV for it, and if you couldn't guess by the title of my post today, it has to do with the movie "Zero Dark Thirty".  For those of you who don't know what this movie is about, it essentially follows the hunt for and killing of Osama bin Laden.  I am going to try not to touch on my disdain for the killing of this man, however he may be viewed by those around the world.  Most will call him a terrorist, I will simply call him a man, for that is what he was.  There have been much worse people who have walked the face of the earth than him, yet it seems that he has galvanized a large portion of at least the U.S. population into placing him in the same realm as the devil.  Be that as it may, I have a bigger issue with this movie and the way it is being portrayed in the previews and commercials for it.  The one line that irks me beyond belief is the one that says it is "a film that defines a decade".  Excuse me?  A film to define a decade.  By saying that, the producers and marketers are essentially saying that nothing more important happened over the past ten years than the hunt for and the killing of this one man.  I personally haven't defined my life by following every tidbit of information that comes out in reference to our hunt for this man, especially when it came to killing him.  I think that anyone who has defined their life in such a way is a sad excuse for a human being.  Yet, if you look at the reaction of many people after finding out that bin Laden was killed, you might actually think that this movie, a portrayal of real and tangible actions by our disturbed government,  actually does define the past decade.   I personally found the jubilant celebrations, gathering in the streets, and over zealous excitement upon finding out about his murder, to be quite disturbing.  We wonder what is wrong with this country, why we resort to guns and violence to solve our issues, yet do we have to look any farther than this movie for part of the answer?  I don't think so.   What I am about to say next will most likely anger many a veteran and active service person, but those marines that killed Osama bin Laden and most of who afterwards died in a helicopter, got what they deserved.  

 

I am angry about this movie, not just because it portrays the a military mission designed for one purpose, to kill one man, but because it also shows how creatively dead Hollywood has become.  Every year there are fewer and fewer creatively done movies put out by Hollywood.  The only ones that are notable in my mind are the ones done by independent film makers at this point.  Hollywood has become a bastion of copy, replicate, and renew.  We need look no farther than the multitude of musicals that have been turned into movies as evidence.  Yet this movie, Zero Dark Thirty, which I will never see, perhaps does define what our culture is all about; vengeance, death, and violence.  And we wonder why children choose violence to resolve issues over meaningful conversation.  If we keep on teaching them that the only way to make things right is to follow the Draconian code of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, than we will continue to sink farther back towards the dark ages.  As much as I would love for this movie to tank, to lose money and dwindle into the dark recesses of our minds, I know it won't.  There are too many people out there who were elated at the news of Osama bin Laden's death to have this movie tank.  The theaters will be packed with people, watching a manhunt for one person, a manhunt that took ten years and billions of dollars of our taxpayer money, just to satiate an inner desire to see someone die.  Its appalling to me, really.  Instead of continuing on this track today, one of anger and despair at the path our country is taking, I will end my blog post sooner than usual.  All I ask today is, why did we as a nation decide to make it our decade long mission to hunt and kill one man?  Wouldn't it have been more beneficial to take all that money and invest it in our country, invest it in our schools, invest it in any activity more meaningful than killing?  Finally, are you planning on seeing this movie?  And if you do, why are going to see it?  Is it because it actually looks like a well made movie or because you want to watch someone get murdered?