Zero Dark Thirty and the Depiction of Torture

The Takeaway

Katherine Bigelow’s latest film “Zero Dark Thirty” comes out in limited release this week, but critics have already honed in on what’s become the film’s most controversial talking point: its depiction of torture.
“Zero Dark Thirty” follows the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden. It opens with several torture scenes, including one of a CIA agent waterboarding a prisoner. Critics have subsequently accused the filmmakers of making an argument for torture.
Karen Greenberg is the director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law School and editor of “The Torture Papers.”

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