Zero Dark Thirty and controversy were always going to go hand in hand but I very much admired the effective realism of the structure of the film and that of the performances. Let's not split hairs here, Zero Dark Thirty is about the FBI's global decade long manhunt for Osama Bin Laden after the attacks of 9/11. That being said the film is mostly centralized on Jessica Chastain's character and her obsession with completing the mission she has started. I'm no big fan of Kathryn Bigelow, her earlier work is at worst forgettable crap and at best slightly intellectual entertainment fluff. I also personally resent how she's been handed the title of best female director (that is hands down Sofia Coppola) and the foremost Hollywood voice on the war in Afghanistan. My personal agenda's aside the film is arguably her best directing job and, like The Hurt Locker, the film benefits greatly from its narrative structure and the way things are pieced together and presented to the audience. Perhaps I'll have to reevaluate my position of Bigelow but I'd certainly like to see her make an accomplished film that isn't a politically charged modern war drama.