While Jennifer Lawrence nabbed the Oscar Sunday night for her portrayal of the quirky Tiffany in "Silver Linings Playbook," poor Jessica Chastain was left out of the winner's circle once again.
Don't get me wrong, I love Lawrence and her work alongside Bradley Cooper in the comical and heartwarming "Silver Linings."
However, Chastain convincingly plays a CIA operative in the political / historical thriller "Zero Dark Thirty," a film that details the search for al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden.
Chastain's performance was nothing short of inspiring and displayed the emotional complexities of dedication to a common yet seemingly intangible goal. In the film, Chastain's character, Maya, spends more than a decade hunting high and low for the elusive bin Laden.
Even amidst critique from her co-workers and doubts about her toughness as a female agent, she discovers the Pakistani compound in which she believes he resides. She works for months to gather the evidence she needs to solidify a plan of attack. Although she has little ocular proof, she remains "100% sure" that SEAL Team 6 will find bin Laden in the mysterious Pakistani compound.
Chastain and her "Zero Dark Thirty" cast-mates take the audience into the trenches of warfare in the Middle East. Through Maya's eyes, the audience sees the raw conflict in the Middle East and the tricky and dangerous search for al-Qaida's leader.
In addition, in the penultimate scene where SEAL Team 6 enters the compound and eliminates bin Laden, the audience views the raid through the eyes of the SEALs' night vision goggles. This effect forces the audience to see what the SEALs saw that night and highlights every detail that Maya calculated in her master plan for the mission. These details make the film both intense and realistic for the viewer.
The film also highlights the CIA operatives' and the SEAL team's hard work, sacrifice, allegiance to each other and dedication toward the successful mission, which would never have occurred in the first place without this resolve and grit.
In the aftermath of the May 2, 2011 operation, the political figures in Washington D.C. received most of the credit for "pulling the trigger" on the assignment that eventually eliminated the mastermind behind 9/11.
Refreshingly, the film pays homage to the under-reported and under-appreciated bravery and commitment of Chastain's character and the Navy SEALs who executed the mission. It was beyond awesome to see one Hollywood film give credit where credit is clearly and appropriately due.
Chastain's character and the film also follow relatively closely to the book, No Easy Day, Navy SEAL Mark Owen's account of the mission that killed bin Laden. Owen's book and the film act as compliments to one another.
While the book tells the story strictly from the eyes of the SEALs, the film focuses on Maya's point of view. Some of the details vary between book and film, but both are historical thrillers that champion the unsung dedication of those who work behind the scenes in Special Forces missions.
Lawrence walked away with the statuette Sunday night, but she simply could not beat Chastain's poignant portrayal of decade-long heroism. For Chastain's brave and gritty performance, "Zero Dark Thirty" is a must-see historical thriller that was more than worthy of a Best Actress award. 100 percent sure.
- Hendrickson is a senior Indianapolis, Ind. majoring in English literature and communication.