A new movie illustrating the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden will not include President Obama as one of its characters.
Mark Boal, the screenwriter of Zero Dark Thirty, insists that there is no political agenda in the film but that it is in fact a study of those who worked behind the scenes to finally take down the tyrant leader.
“A lot of people are going to be surprised by what they see in the film,” Boal said to Entertainment Weekly. “For example, the president is not depicted in the movie. He’s just not in the movie.”
Rather than focusing on the decision-makers at the top, Zero Dark Thirty focuses on military and intelligence officials who were involved in the raid that killed al-Qaeda’s former leader.
“I’m fascinated by people who dedicate themselves to really difficult and dangerous things for the greater good,” Boal said. “ I think they’re heroic and I’m intrigued by them. I’m fascinated by the world they inhabit. I personally want to know how they caught bin Laden. All I can do is hope that it interests other people.”
The director of the film, Kathryn Bigelow, credited along with Boal for winning an Oscar for the 2008 film The Hurt Locker, explained the title to Entertainment Weekly.
“It’s a military term for 30 minutes after midnight, and it refers also to the darkness and secrecy that cloaked the entire decade long mission,” she said.
News of the film has created a firestorm of sorts on the political scene as the November presidential election approaches. Obama’s opponents remain unenthused as the film may serve as a reminder that it was in fact the president who authorized the raid to terminate the most wanted terrorist in the world.
