(2010. Dir. Gregor Jordan. Samuel L. Jackon. Carrie-Ann Moss. Michael Sheen. 97 min.) The controversy and speculation concerning director Kathryn Bigelow not getting an Academy Award nomination for Zero Dark Thirty, since some see the film as condoning enhanced interrogation techniques, is a big pile of merde, pardon my French. Even though I'm an enthused admirer of Ms. Bigelow's work (The Hurt Locker was mind blowing; really loved Near Dark) her defense of the film in an Op Ed piece in the L.A. Times where she said that the administration that made such techniques permissible should be investigated, is a small pile. People in Hollywood don't live in the world of life or death consequences. They live in a world of creature comforts where they can wax self-righteous from their corner offices, the decisions they make not deciding who lives and who dies. At least they shouldn't. And it's not like this subject hasn't been treated in American films before - quite recently as a matter of fact in Gregor Jordan's startling indie thriller Unthinkable with Samuel L. Jackson. Where were the loudmouths then? (Not that I'd wish that on the makers of Unthinkable.)
Unthinkable builds a dramatic narrative around the thought experiment tossed about by Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz post 9/11 where he wondered how far America would be willing to bend its Civil Liberties if you had an impending terrorist attack, say a hidden nuclear device set to go off in a couple of hours, and a terrorist in our custody with knowledge of the device's location. What would we do? How far would we go? If I remember the professor’s argument correctly he, said in a special case like that extraordinary steps are permissible.
Let's just stop right here and point out how patently ridiculous Mr. Dershowitz's 'thought experiment' really is - okay we've got a dirty bomb hidden somewhere in the city. It's set to go off in a half hour, killing ten of millions of people. We have the terrorist mastermind in our custody but he won't talk. What would we do? How far would we go? What are the odds of something like that happening in the real world? Pretty slim if you ask me. What are the chances we'd find this idea many times over in a slush pile of screenplays in some movie producer's office? Probably pretty good. It's a plot ready made for a movie poster.
Dershowitz has given us 'the ticking time bomb' plot, something I sure all writers of suspence fiction have toyed with, plus a philosophical sidecar of 'does the end's justify the means?' Fine. But I'll give you the real world step-by-step. The Government would bring in an investigator like Samuel L.'s 'H' and one way or the other he'll pull the information out of the bad guy. (Unthinkable ups the ante by making the terrorist with knowledge of the bomb's location an American.) Spoiler alert: If you haven't seen the film read no further … but the Unthinkable involves bringing in the terrorist's kids and threatening to blow their brains out in front of Dad if he doesn't come across with the bomb location.
Now at this point the movie gives us a convoluted twist. It will not end with the terrorist caving and 'H' saving the day since the terrorist realized ‘H’ was quite capable of doing what he says he’d do. Instead 'H' ges tpretty disgusted with the ever dwindling set of military personnel surrounding him (to leave him holding the bag as it were) and actually sets the terrorist free who then grabs a gun and shoots himself. 'H' takes the children, presumable to safety, and what happens next is left unresolved.
There is also an alternative ending to the movie where the issue of whether the bomb goes off or not is resolved.
But let's say instead 'H' takes the viewer up to the Unthinkable in a more incremental fashion. "Do you see these tin-snips? Do you see those ten little fingers, ten little toes?" 'H', or anybody like him, risks his reputation as a human being the farther down the slope he goes, betting that the terrorist will give up the location of the bomb because the thought of such brutality leveled against his child is more than he'll be able to bear. Does this shock you? Would you prefer the bomb going off and taking out the American City where your family lives? That's the real question.
Of course if the story ever gets out, even with a good result such as in Zero Dark Thirty, the politicians and leftwing media morons would hang ‘H’ out to dry, the type of doofs running around saying 'The US Government goes too far in protecting our citizens', that is until the next terrorist attack where the exact same doofs would then be saying, 'The US Government doesn't go far enough.' The problem with most American is they are unwilling or unable to face the contradictions inside themselves, or in human nature for that matter.
My friend Popeye turned me on to Unthinkable. I watched it and the next day I saw him in The Dragon Weir and we talked about it. Popeye said, "I don't think the American people would accept something like that."
But I said to him do you know what's funny? The American people have already accepted something along these lines. You’ll find a very similar situation in the movie Dirty Harry. For those of you unfamiliar with the story, a psychotic calling himself Scorpio is terrorizing San Francisco. ( Loosely based on The Zodiac Killings. See David Fincher's excellent film Zodiac for that version of events.) Anyway in Dirty Harry, Scorpio kidnaps a teenage girl and buries her underground with only a limited amount of air. He sends a message to City Hall saying that if he doesn't get a ransom of say ten K he's going to let the girl die. So naturally Inspector Callahan gets the assignment of delivering the ransom and that entails him hoofing it all over San Francisco from payphone to payphone as Scorpio gives him new locations. Harry is smart enough to know the girl is probably dead already, but since there's that slim chance she might still be alive, Harry goes down the slope.
To make this long story longer, Harry gets a lead sending him to Scorpio's hideout – a football stadium where this freak has been living in some small room. Harry gets inside the stadium, switches on the lights, and a foot chase ensues with Scorpio making a break for it across the field. Harry in hot pursuit fires his gun and hits Scorpio in the leg and Scorpio goes down. Harry then runs up to the now wounded Scorpio, sticks his Magnum in the madman's face and says, "Where's the girl?" Scorpio starts screaming please don't hurt me Mr. Big Bad Policeman. I'm wounded. I need medical attention. Harry repeats: "Where is the girl?" Scorpio is still wailing away that he's the victim in all this and Harry has had enough. He tromps on Scorpio's wounded leg (uh, torture) and forces the information out of him. Of course as it turns out the girl is dead, and the politicians hang Harry out to dry which is the reason behind tossing his badge away at the end of the movie. Can't say I blamed him.
Unthinkable builds a dramatic narrative around the thought experiment tossed about by Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz post 9/11 where he wondered how far America would be willing to bend its Civil Liberties if you had an impending terrorist attack, say a hidden nuclear device set to go off in a couple of hours, and a terrorist in our custody with knowledge of the device's location. What would we do? How far would we go? If I remember the professor’s argument correctly he, said in a special case like that extraordinary steps are permissible.
Let's just stop right here and point out how patently ridiculous Mr. Dershowitz's 'thought experiment' really is - okay we've got a dirty bomb hidden somewhere in the city. It's set to go off in a half hour, killing ten of millions of people. We have the terrorist mastermind in our custody but he won't talk. What would we do? How far would we go? What are the odds of something like that happening in the real world? Pretty slim if you ask me. What are the chances we'd find this idea many times over in a slush pile of screenplays in some movie producer's office? Probably pretty good. It's a plot ready made for a movie poster.
Dershowitz has given us 'the ticking time bomb' plot, something I sure all writers of suspence fiction have toyed with, plus a philosophical sidecar of 'does the end's justify the means?' Fine. But I'll give you the real world step-by-step. The Government would bring in an investigator like Samuel L.'s 'H' and one way or the other he'll pull the information out of the bad guy. (Unthinkable ups the ante by making the terrorist with knowledge of the bomb's location an American.) Spoiler alert: If you haven't seen the film read no further … but the Unthinkable involves bringing in the terrorist's kids and threatening to blow their brains out in front of Dad if he doesn't come across with the bomb location.
Now at this point the movie gives us a convoluted twist. It will not end with the terrorist caving and 'H' saving the day since the terrorist realized ‘H’ was quite capable of doing what he says he’d do. Instead 'H' ges tpretty disgusted with the ever dwindling set of military personnel surrounding him (to leave him holding the bag as it were) and actually sets the terrorist free who then grabs a gun and shoots himself. 'H' takes the children, presumable to safety, and what happens next is left unresolved.
There is also an alternative ending to the movie where the issue of whether the bomb goes off or not is resolved.
But let's say instead 'H' takes the viewer up to the Unthinkable in a more incremental fashion. "Do you see these tin-snips? Do you see those ten little fingers, ten little toes?" 'H', or anybody like him, risks his reputation as a human being the farther down the slope he goes, betting that the terrorist will give up the location of the bomb because the thought of such brutality leveled against his child is more than he'll be able to bear. Does this shock you? Would you prefer the bomb going off and taking out the American City where your family lives? That's the real question.
Of course if the story ever gets out, even with a good result such as in Zero Dark Thirty, the politicians and leftwing media morons would hang ‘H’ out to dry, the type of doofs running around saying 'The US Government goes too far in protecting our citizens', that is until the next terrorist attack where the exact same doofs would then be saying, 'The US Government doesn't go far enough.' The problem with most American is they are unwilling or unable to face the contradictions inside themselves, or in human nature for that matter.
My friend Popeye turned me on to Unthinkable. I watched it and the next day I saw him in The Dragon Weir and we talked about it. Popeye said, "I don't think the American people would accept something like that."
But I said to him do you know what's funny? The American people have already accepted something along these lines. You’ll find a very similar situation in the movie Dirty Harry. For those of you unfamiliar with the story, a psychotic calling himself Scorpio is terrorizing San Francisco. ( Loosely based on The Zodiac Killings. See David Fincher's excellent film Zodiac for that version of events.) Anyway in Dirty Harry, Scorpio kidnaps a teenage girl and buries her underground with only a limited amount of air. He sends a message to City Hall saying that if he doesn't get a ransom of say ten K he's going to let the girl die. So naturally Inspector Callahan gets the assignment of delivering the ransom and that entails him hoofing it all over San Francisco from payphone to payphone as Scorpio gives him new locations. Harry is smart enough to know the girl is probably dead already, but since there's that slim chance she might still be alive, Harry goes down the slope.
To make this long story longer, Harry gets a lead sending him to Scorpio's hideout – a football stadium where this freak has been living in some small room. Harry gets inside the stadium, switches on the lights, and a foot chase ensues with Scorpio making a break for it across the field. Harry in hot pursuit fires his gun and hits Scorpio in the leg and Scorpio goes down. Harry then runs up to the now wounded Scorpio, sticks his Magnum in the madman's face and says, "Where's the girl?" Scorpio starts screaming please don't hurt me Mr. Big Bad Policeman. I'm wounded. I need medical attention. Harry repeats: "Where is the girl?" Scorpio is still wailing away that he's the victim in all this and Harry has had enough. He tromps on Scorpio's wounded leg (uh, torture) and forces the information out of him. Of course as it turns out the girl is dead, and the politicians hang Harry out to dry which is the reason behind tossing his badge away at the end of the movie. Can't say I blamed him.
"But Alex you're asking us to descend to the terrorist's level." So what makes you think we haven't been down there all along? Threaten to shoot a man's child in order to save the lives of thousands, maybe tens of thousands? You've been Dershowitzed.
Don't listen to him. See the movie instead.
