Zero Dark Thirty portrays torture as an effective device in procuring information for the CIA. It arguably glorifies torture. Like many other Hollywood films and TV programmes, such as 24, the President and those higher up seem to be against torture while other characters break the rules and use torture anyway. In Zero Dark Thirty, a TV is displayed showing a clip of Obama discussing how Americans do not use extreme methods of torture. Maya and her colleagues watch this clip. It comes across as ironic as we have previously seen them torturing various men. The characters who go against higher orders not to torture people are seen as heroic and brave. They somehow always get the information they need. However, this is Hollywood, not reality. How many innocent people do we not see being tortured? How many people do not know the answers to the questions they're being asked, and are forced to experience immense pain worse than death? How many people blurt out any random answer because they just want the suffering to end? It is not worth it. Even though they found Osama bin Laden in the end, that doesn't necessarily mean that all terrorists will be stopped and everything is fine now. On the Human Rights Watch website, the Legal Prohibition Against Torture is discussed. The site states that, "most seasoned interrogators recognize that torture is not only immoral and illegal, but ineffective and unnecessary as well. Given that people being tortured will say anything to stop the pain... torture is as likely to yield false information as it is to yield the truth." I am glad that Zero Dark Thirty has a strong female protagonist, but the unethical scenes of torture detract from this positive aspect.
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