I Rewatched Zero Dark Thirty After Watching The Latest Netflix Docuseries, American Manhunt: Bin Laden, And Have A New Appreciation For It

It’s been 12 years since I last watched Katherine Bigelow’s fantastic war film about the hunting and killing of Osama Bin Laden, Zero Dark Thirty. The movie was released a mere 20 months after the raid on the Bin Laden compound by SEAL Team Six that took the terrorist out. That is a pretty remarkable turnaround time, and when I saw it, I really wondered how accurate the movie was. Recently, Netflix dropped an excellent docuseries in the 2025 TV schedule called American Manhunt: Osama Bin Laden, and so I decided to rewatch the Jessica Chastain-led film and see how accurate it really was.

The Answer Is Complicated, But Basically, The Movie Does A Great Job

I will admit I’m no expert on covert affairs or the details of the Bin Laden hunt, but I’m old enough to have followed all the news from 9/11 until that fateful day in May 2011 when then-President Obama made the announcement that Bin Laden had been located and killed. I knew the basics: the raid by SEAL Team Six occurred in a compound in a small town in Pakistan, and a number of people in Bin Laden’s family and some close associates were taken out. Beyond that, I didn't know much.

The first detailed account of the mission I ever really saw was, in fact, Zero Dark Thirty in 2013. I am a big fan of historical movies, and though this history was recent, it fell right into a genre I love, but also one of which I am inherently skeptical. Even the best movies based on real historical events often make a hash of the truth, or at least change enough to make the truth a little murkier for various reasons.

This was especially true of a movie like Zero Dark Thirty. How much info was really available to the public and the filmmakers so soon after the event that changed the world? This was a covert affair led mostly by the CIA. There must be some aspects they hadn’t discussed publicly yet, surely, I told myself. Well, after watching the Netflix series, and assuming the CIA agents interviewed in it aren’t lying (I know, I know, “assume” at my own risk), it turns out Zero Dark Thirty was pretty accurate.

There Are Some Changes, Of Course, But The Biggest Is Well Done

One of the biggest changes, and one that seems to have drawn the most ire from experts, is that Bigelow condensed a number of CIA analysts into one character, Maya, played by Jessica Chastain in one of her finest roles. Having the character played by a woman was no mistake, nor was it Bigelow pushing any kind of agenda; it was somewhat factually accurate.

One thing that really caught my attention in American Manhunt was just how many of the analysts who worked on the Bin Laden case, especially the ones who refused to let it go even when the Bush administration de-emphasized the search, were women. It makes total sense for a female character to represent those within the CIA who refused to give up the hunt and worked until he was found.

The Oscar-nominated Zero Dark Thirty is not perfect historically, especially the depiction of torture, but in a broad sense, the movie gets the story of the hunt correct. For that, I have a new respect for it beyond just my admiration for it being a great movie.