Now I'm an On-Air Film Critic...
Listen to my review of Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty at WSIU Reviews: http://news.wsiu.org/post/siu-reviews-zero-dark-thirty
Or read the text below...
“Osama bin Laden as objet petit a”
A Film Review of Zero Dark Thirty
By L. E. Bond
It was May 1, 2011. I sat fixated on my television as President Obama announced to the world that Osama bin Laden was dead. Ding, dong, the witch is dead! I watched those gathered outside the White House, a cheering mob of munchkin revelry. And me, I burst into tears. For the past two years, I have tried to understand what those tears meant. What was buried in my subconscious that those tears symbolized? Kathryn Bigelow’s new film Zero Dark Thirty, finally shed a light on my seemingly unnatural reaction. On the surface, this is a documentary-style film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Underneath, it is a film about obsession.
According to French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, the objet petit a is that one unattainable object of desire which can make us whole again. In Zero Dark Thirty, our heroine Maya’s objet petit a is Osama bin Laden. As the narrative progresses, chronologically, though with gaps in time, Maya’s obsession grows exponentially, and from a certain perspective, unhealthily. As the years progress and bin Laden remains elusive, Maya’s obsession to find him clouds her own ethical concerns, especially concerning torture. At one point, Maya’s superior asks what she’s worked on during her tenure with the CIA; Maya’s response: her only mission has been the hunt for this one man. Maya’s life has a single-minded focus that reveals a larger metaphor. Maya is us, the cracked and broken United States. Our way to restoration is the same as Maya’s. Yet the fierceness with which our country set out to appease our loss – a war in Afghanistan and a war in Iraq – was much more fervent than Jessica Chastain as Maya can truly get across.
A masterful creation, yet terrifying experience, Zero Dark Thirty succeeds in making its point. I should say it is not for the weak-hearted, but I believe that every American who experienced 9/11 – which means everyone – should see this film. As I watched Maya’s final reaction in the film, I was strongly reminded of my own. A mirror image of a woman in tears. Not tears of joy, but tears of sadness. Not sadness that this man was dead, but sadness at the realization that nothing had changed. The loss was still there. The reality behind the objet petit a is that nothing can fulfill that need to be whole again.
Or read the text below...
“Osama bin Laden as objet petit a”
A Film Review of Zero Dark Thirty
By L. E. Bond
It was May 1, 2011. I sat fixated on my television as President Obama announced to the world that Osama bin Laden was dead. Ding, dong, the witch is dead! I watched those gathered outside the White House, a cheering mob of munchkin revelry. And me, I burst into tears. For the past two years, I have tried to understand what those tears meant. What was buried in my subconscious that those tears symbolized? Kathryn Bigelow’s new film Zero Dark Thirty, finally shed a light on my seemingly unnatural reaction. On the surface, this is a documentary-style film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Underneath, it is a film about obsession.
According to French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, the objet petit a is that one unattainable object of desire which can make us whole again. In Zero Dark Thirty, our heroine Maya’s objet petit a is Osama bin Laden. As the narrative progresses, chronologically, though with gaps in time, Maya’s obsession grows exponentially, and from a certain perspective, unhealthily. As the years progress and bin Laden remains elusive, Maya’s obsession to find him clouds her own ethical concerns, especially concerning torture. At one point, Maya’s superior asks what she’s worked on during her tenure with the CIA; Maya’s response: her only mission has been the hunt for this one man. Maya’s life has a single-minded focus that reveals a larger metaphor. Maya is us, the cracked and broken United States. Our way to restoration is the same as Maya’s. Yet the fierceness with which our country set out to appease our loss – a war in Afghanistan and a war in Iraq – was much more fervent than Jessica Chastain as Maya can truly get across.
A masterful creation, yet terrifying experience, Zero Dark Thirty succeeds in making its point. I should say it is not for the weak-hearted, but I believe that every American who experienced 9/11 – which means everyone – should see this film. As I watched Maya’s final reaction in the film, I was strongly reminded of my own. A mirror image of a woman in tears. Not tears of joy, but tears of sadness. Not sadness that this man was dead, but sadness at the realization that nothing had changed. The loss was still there. The reality behind the objet petit a is that nothing can fulfill that need to be whole again.
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