NEW YORK: Zero Dark Thirty, film-maker Kathryn Bigelow’s action thriller about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, was named best film of 2012 on Wednesday by the National Board of Review (NBR) — the second accolade for the movie in one week.
Bigelow was named best director and Jessica Chastain, who plays the starring role of a young CIA officer pursuing bin Laden, was named best actor by the NBR.
Bradley Cooper took home best actor honour for his portrayal of a bipolar, former teacher in the film Silver Linings Playbook.
“Zero Dark Thirty is a masterful film,” NBR President Annie Schulhof said in a statement. “Kathryn Bigelow takes the viewer inside a definitive moment of our time in a visceral and unique way. It is exciting, provocative and deeply emotional.”
Wednesday’s awards for the Hollywood treatment of the decade-long operation to hunt and kill bin Laden, based on firsthand accounts, boosts the prospects for the movie to win an Oscar in February. The film, not yet publicly released, also took the top award from the New York Film Critics Circle on Monday.
Leonardo DiCaprio won best supporting actor from the NBR for his role in Quentin Tarantino’s new slavery era drama, Django Unchained. Ann Dowd took the best supporting actor honour for her role in Compliance, as a fast-food restaurant manager duped by a prank caller scam.
The NBR, a 100 year-old US-based group of movie industry watchers and film professionals, gave its original screenplay award to Rian Johnson for Looper, and adapted screenplay award to David O Russell for Silver Linings Playbook.
Each year the board also issues a list of top 10 movies, which this year besides Bigelow’s film included Ben Affleck’s Iran hostage thriller Argo, Django Unchained, Les Miserables, Silver Linings Playbook, and Looper.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 7th, 2012.
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