Delighted to announce that I have made a guest appearance on movie podcast SpyHards, on which, ahem, special agents Scott and Cam “go deep undercover into the shadowy world of cloak and dagger cinema on a mission to determine the greatest spy films of all time.” I joined them to talk about the 2012 Kathryn Bigelow Oscar-winning thriller Zero Dark Thirty, starring Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, and Jennifer Ehle. (Read my 2013 review.)
Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Castro, or at the SpyHards website.
Am I the only person who now remembers it being common knowledge among intelligence professionals in the 1990s, and freely discussed in the outside world, that torture was basically pointless? Nobody seems to mention that now; it’s all as though it had been freshly discovered in the wake of Abu Ghraib.
Because if that is true, then everyone knew that going in, and they were just doing it for the jollies.
Thanks for the pointer; a subtler film than I’d thought it was, though I suspect I still won’t be in a rush to watch it.
Who were you hanging out with in the 90s? :-)
I have no doubt that this is correct.
Gamers, particularly wargamers and role-players who wanted maximum authenticity. But yeah, I’m talking about what was said in open discourse; if I have shadowy friends I’m not allowed to mention them. :-)