This should be catnip for Zero Dark Thirty fans
American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden is sitting pretty in the elite 100% club on Rotten Tomatoes.
The latest instalment of Netflix‘s true-crime documentary series American Manhunt – following The Boston Marathon Bombing and OJ Simpson – this unmissable three-episoder explores the aftermath of 9/11, when the US tracked down and eliminated the eponymous Al-Qaeda figurehead.
Splicing together archival, behind-the-scenes footage with talking head interviews, the show paints a vivid picture of critical governmental decision-making.
Referring to Oscar-winning filmmaker Katheryn Bigelow’s Hollywood dramatisation, which was released in 2012, Ready Steady Cut‘s review reads: “If Zero Dark Thirty has long held the crown for the most riveting depiction of this raid, American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden might nick it with a near feature-length final episode that is absolutely stellar documentary filmmaking.
“It’s bracingly tense and raucously entertaining because we know the outcome and can agree on its morality; the earlier legwork establishing bin Laden’s monstrous bona fides pays off. The masterstroke of this series is reducing complex American foreign policy to cinematic simplicity, the good guys versus the baddest guy of all.”
Its Rotten Tomatoes rating is based on five reviews at the time of writing.
Speaking to Tudum, co-directors Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan explained the intentions behind making this white-knuckle documentary.
“For us, the best way to understand history is to truly experience it,” they began.
“Being thrown into the driver’s seat after the worst attack in American history would rattle anyone, even these brave men and women who had devoted their lives to protecting Americans by assessing geopolitical threats and sounding alarms that were often ignored. But the intelligence analysts didn’t have time to grieve or reflect. They had a mission at hand: to figure out who did this and stop them before the next attack.
“American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden does not tell the story of the United States and the War on Terror. It tells the story of the people tasked to find the world’s most wanted terrorist and bring him to justice. It [was] a hunt that changed their lives, America, and the world as we know it.”
