Maya in Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Maya, the daring CIA agent played by Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty (above) who is crucial to locating Osama bin Laden, is a composite character based on a real terror expert.
The expert was once dubbed “The Unidentified Queen of Torture” in a New Yorker investigation by Jane Mayer, and the CIA has never released her name.
Maya is portrayed in the film as a tough, brave agent who overcomes bureaucracy and ineptitude in a male-dominated agency to do what needs to be done. But some critics argued when Zero Dark Thirty was released that it incorrectly indicated that the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation techniques” helped the agency locate bin Laden to Navy SEALS could kill him.
Interestingly, the woman who inspired the hero of Zero Dark Thirty also appears to have inspired a character in The Report, which takes a much for critical view of CIA interrogations post 9/11.
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