Senators Claim "Zero Dark Thirty" Is Misleading - East Idaho News
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Senators Claim “Zero Dark Thirty” Is Misleading

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Getty 092311 MovieOpening?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1355997088419iStockphoto/Thinkstock(LOS ANGELES) — Zero Dark Thirty, the Kathryn Bigelow film that has earned plenty of Oscar buzz ahead of its nationwide release, is also receiving criticism from three senators who believe it is misleading.

Deadline.com has obtained a letter sent Wednesday by three members of the Senate Intelligence committee — Dianne Feinstein, John McCain and Carl Levin — to Sony Pictures Entertainment chief Michael Lynton in which they argue that the film inaccurately suggests that the use of torture resulted in information regarding Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts.

The letter claims that Zero Dark Thirty “has the potential to shape American public opinion in a disturbing and misleading manner.”

It adds, “[W]ith the release of Zero Dark Thirty, the filmmakers and your production studio are perpetuating the myth that torture is effective.  You have a social and moral obligation to get the facts right.”

Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal recently released a statement saying, “The film shows that no single method was necessarily responsible for solving the manhunt, nor can any single scene taken in isolation fairly capture the totality of efforts the film dramatizes.”

Zero Dark Thirty is currently open in New York and Los Angeles.  It opens nationwide on Jan. 11.

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