This film was so much more than just an action film, it was a drama and even more than that it was a story about a woman who comes into her own and is a empowerment statement for all women who are fighting for equality in "a man's world." This film had many apparent motifs that made this so much more than just the story of the greatest manhunt in modern history. This film made a statement that women are strong and capable just as men are, and the director did a great job of displaying this in different ways. There were a few things that stuck out to me that displayed the focus on the woman who essentially found and killed Osama Bin Laden, those being: Maya's actions in the interrogations, the focus on the conversations between only female characters, Maya's rise from being in the background to being the head of the show, and finally, the display of Maya crying at the final moments of the film. Each of these play an important part of the creation of this film and breaking down the modern gender stereotypes of women, especially in war.
The first event that made a clear statement to me was how Maya changed over the course of her time participating in the interrogations. At first she is scared, timid and unsure of the things she was witnessing as it is the first thing she sees after landing in Pakistan. However, she changes and during this change we see that she becomes hard, and driven to excel because she is fighting for the bigger picture. She even wears a dark haired wig when she does her interrogations, it is as if when she wears the wig she is cold and unwavering but when she takes it off she is able to breath and seems vulnerable again. This is the first statement of gender in the film, a statement of the modern woman, someone who can stand up for herself and be strong but yet still has the softness and appeal of a woman.
Next, the director, being a female herself, chose to focus many scenes not only on Maya but on the interactions she had with other women. These connections show the viewer that the director is trying to make people understand that the men aren't running the show, since throughout every bit of the manhunt that we saw, the women controlled the game, they made the connections and dictated to the men what the right moves were, when and where to go. Finally, it is Maya who takes responsibility for finding Bin Laden and is the one chosen to ID the body for the President. The scenes between only female characters gave intimacy to the film, and showed more compassion for the work that was being down, and I believe had a man made this film that these scenes would not happen, there would be a lot more gunfights or scenes of torture.
Also, Maya came from the bottom and ended at the top. We see this from the very first scene. She is always in the back of the scenes, distant from the action, her office is even in the farthest corner of the building. She was considered a lower level person on the case. There is a very critical moment in film when meeting with the director of the CIA to explain the details of the compound and how she was sure that it was Bin Laden's lair. She goes to sit at the conference table and she is asked to move to the back of the room. I immediately noticed that she was not thought of as an equal even though the entire hunt relies on her work and her knowledge. However, at the end of the scene, she takes charge and asserts herself to prove that though she may be a woman, this is her life's work, this is her show and she won't sit on the sideline. From the moment she says "I was the one who found this motherfucker" no one takes her out of the center, she is the one who found and would be the one who "kills" Bin Laden.
Finally, as a finale to the film, the director, whose just created this "superwoman" and has made statement after statement that empowered Maya to ascend to the top of the team behind the manhunt of OBL, brings us back to the softness and the vulnerable side of women. It is a final statement that shows the diversity of a modern woman. The final scene where Maya boards a plane that was sent only for her and is asked where she would like to go, she remains silent and lets a single tear fall. This scene is so powerful to me, because this woman worked for 12 years to hunt OBL and gives up everything that a "normal" would want such as a family or a relationship, and she see things and does things that normally only men of war would see and do but yet she does not break. It is not til everything is over that it all sets in that she accomplished a historic task and is not allowed to relax, and she cries. However, she lets one tear fall, only one, that too is a statement of strength.
This film was fantastic and it truly was a film to empower women maybe even more than to be an action flick. Te director focused on scenes had broke down gender stereotypes and allowed people to see that women are just strong and powerful as the modern man is.
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