It was last Good Friday when I decided to watch Zero Dark Thirty, maybe to lend also to the seriousness of the day, especially to Catholics. Anyway, I enjoyed watching the movie even though the story was heavy and there were many torture scenes. Kathryn Bigelow really made the movie complete, not only showing the actual way Osama Bin Laden was killed, but the travails the female agent had to face to be able to finally locate him.
So much has been written about the torture scenes but for me, personally, it just comes with the territory. Although no war actually happened, the reality is, by making September 11 happen, was kind of an act of war against America so naturally, to protect their way of life - and their country, America had to resort to tactics like torture to get the information that they want. That's really just the dark side of our human nature - and no amount of nationality or race can hide that dark, beastly behavior that we have.
Anyway, if the tables were turned and America sent an airplane to crash in the Kaaba in Mecca, the Muslim world would also do the same to Americans just to get the information they want.
That's why war is bad and we should really just try to get along with each other!
Oh dear, I wonder why they rarely show movies like these here in Manila. It's a pity really, it doesn't seem like a small film because it has a bigger story in it that seems like a horror movie - a genre which does not really play well on a small screen. Jessica Chastain is in it! That woman was just everywhere last year!
I'm a big fan of Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth so I didn't waste time in checking out his latest horror opus, Mama. Well, it is scary - and it's really mostly a ghost story. It also involves children finding themselves in the most difficult of situations. You can bring your kids to watch this but I suggest you cover their eyes in the 7th minute as there is a scene there which may be difficult for you to explain to them. The first ten minutes though is crucial to the whole story, so except for that short scene, it keeps you wanting to discover who is Mama and how she gets involved with these kids.
By the way, Jessica Chastain disappears here in black colored hair but she's still very good acting-wise. There are some holes in the story though like why is an uncle taking care of these kids and why didn't they go to the nearest relative, instead, landing in the lap of a non-relative, played by Jessica. It is explained a bit in the movie but still, it's quite a stretch, considering how very strict child custody rules are in the West,
The cold, chilling, almost always snowing atmosphere lends perfectly to making the movie eerie and scary. The styling of the ghost hues to the style of del Toro. That's how he wants scary to look like - so there's not much departure from his other horror movies.
Still, worth a trip to the cinema. This one should be seen on a big screen!
