This month, Zero Dark Thirty released in theaters, carrying with it pride, suspense, and – even more inciting – controversy. And what makes someone want to go see a movie in theaters more than controversy?

Zero Dark Thirty is an account of how the Seal Team 6 located, monitored, and eventually killed America’s number one enemy, Osama Bin Laden. What has sparked the controversy throughout the nation is not only the factual base of the movie but also the torture of prisoners of war by American troops.

All the characters are fictional, the timeline is most likely inaccurate, and of course, it is over dramatized for Hollywood glamour. With that said, of course none of this movie should be thought of as what actually happened – it is merely a producer and his posse trying to make a quick buck off what Americans will pay to learn the “real” story of how the U.S. killed one of the most sought-after terrorists in the world.

The torture of POW’s in the film rests only in the first scenes of the film when interrogators are trying to retrieve information on Bin Laden’s whereabouts. Of course, this is enough to make you want to close your eyes and turn if you are any kind of sane person, yet society these days is to pot and we are accustomed to blowing men’s heads off via virtual reality gaming – yet I digress. Water boarding is one of the techniques demonstrated in the movie and seems to be a torture of choice for most of the interrogators. Others include force feeding, boxes, tying up, food deprivation, lack of sleep, and many others. What causes the great amount of controversy lies in the honesty of our military – to our knowledge as a nation, “we don’t do that.” To each their own – I say. If you are over there fighting for our country, what must be done, be done. Otherwise, I’ll look away and maintain my “ignorance is bliss” attitude.

Besides the point – Jessica Chastain plays Maya, the super trouper of the film. She is our heroine. Maya discovers Bin Laden’s secret house and then organizes a team to go in and kill Bin Laden. This red-headed actress seems smiley and fun in her red carpet photos, but she plays a force to be reckoned with in the movie. She is a quick spit-fire that has full ammunition of ballsy get-it-done attitude. She is also very smart. It’s not every day you get to see a woman kicking butt on the big screen – girl power.

I’ll admit, I am not a fan of war films – most of the time I end up glazing over at a lack of knowledge and interest in what is going on behind the scenes. However, this film kept my focus. It was a great date night movie and it left me walking out of a theater with a swift air fist-pump saying “’Merica.”

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