It has been attacked on two fronts, with right wingers calling it propaganda for the Obama regime while left wingers criticised it for excusing harm done in the War on Terror. Today, the US Senate-led investigation into Zero Dark Thirty was dropped - but why?
The investigation centered on allegations that the film's creators, Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, were granted inappropriate access to classified CIA materials in the course of researching it. Senator Dianne Feinstein expressed concern about the film's depiction of prisoners being tortured by CIA agents. The CIA countered that they had helped with issues of realism, particularly around character development, but had not handed over restricted information.
Concerns about the film led to a call for Academy members to boycott it, which may have contributed to its poor showing at the Oscars - it received only one award, for Best Sound Editing, in a tie with Skyfall. But has its Oscar failure, in turn, led to the dropping of the inquiry? The power of the film's message, however it is interpreted, must depend on its box office success. So far it has comfortably made its money back, taking $104,539,075 worldwide, but its poor awards showing is likely to significantly dent its success in the DVD market, meaning that it won't be seen as much in the long term. It is also likely to be seen as less authoritative.
Kathryn Bigelow has denied the allegations made about her relationship with the CIA, and has defended the film's depictions of torture. In particular, she has stressed that they do not constitute endorsement.
The CIA also cooperated extensively with filmmakers on Argo but is not believed to have receved any complaints about that relationship. The only political criticism of Argo has come from British diplomats who protest that they are unfairly represented as refusing to help the Americans whose story it tells when, in fact, they were unable to help them.
