Republican Sen. John McCain has teamed up with Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein and Carl Levin to oppose the movie Zero Dark Thirty, calling it “inaccurate and misleading.”
In a letter to Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman and CEO Michael Lynton, the Senators decry the movie’s depiction of torture as being a key element leading to the capture of Osama bin Laden.
“Zero Dark Thirty is factually inaccurate, and we believe that you have an obligation to state that the role of torture in the hunt for Usama bin Laden is not based on facts, but rather part of the film’s fictional narrative,” the letter reads.
The Kathryn Bigelow movie depicts the events leading to the capture of Osama bin Laden and shows torture at a CIA facility providing a crucial piece of information used to locate the terrorist leader. The film is fiction, but the Senators are concerned that the American people might view it as an accurate account, because it opens with the words “based on first-hand accounts of actual events.”
While the Senators make sure to note they are fans of many Sony films, they are concerned the movie’s depiction of torture will “[perpetuate] the myth that torture is effective,” as well as “shape American public opinion in a disturbing and misleading manner.”
The three Senators are part of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
And who says there’s never any meaningful bipartisan work in Washington?
