Hasta La Motion!

Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty is a film objectively about terrorism – specifically, the decades long hunt for Osama Bin Laden. It follows CIA agent Maya (Jessica Chastain) as she works relentlessly in order to find the infamous terrorist. Her work is a model of perseverance and determination, and moreover the film looks to frame this task through the lens of possible justice and catharsis, and what this could look (and feel) like post 9/11. Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret is not focused on political terrorism, however it nonetheless reverberates with the effects of 9/11. It follows teenager Lisa (Anna Paquin) as she deals with guilt and looks for justice following her involvement in a horrific road accident. In its own narrative way Margaret seeks to explore the consequences of trauma and the potential catharsis to be found through such violent acts. Both films deploy a central female protagonist as a means to explore their particular concerns. Zero Dark Thirty’s Maya, and Margaret’s Lisa represent the journey towards justice, passing the stages of obsession, guilt, anger, and frustration respectively. Beyond considering both films to be the work of complex and necessary auteurs, I always felt there to be an intrinsic relationship between the two films, a relationship between their thematic and technical qualities. They both are expansive and cover one woman’s struggle to seek justice and resolution. Moreover, both films deal with many issues that reflect a post 9/11 landscape: death, (survivors) guilt, paranoia, the struggle for justice, and a shifting sense of political – and specifically American (and in Margaret’s case, a New York City based) – identity. This video essays focuses on four scenes from each film that depict: • The instigating act of terror (also both films’ opening sequences) • A sense of its impact • A confrontation regarding the impact of the event on the journey towards resolution • The final conclusion, tinged with catharsis (also both films’ final sequences) By reframing these scenes, exploring different comparative edits, and highlighting their thematic, aesthetic, and narrative similarities, I aim to tie Margaret to a post 9/11 dialogue, and create a piece that encourages the viewer to think of these films in a new way – one that supports a appreciate of these films somewhere between their textual and sub-textual meanings. NOTE: this is a work in progress.