Sen. McCain lashes out at 'Zero Dark Thirty'

2012-12-21 26

Kathryn Bigelow's latest film "Zero Dark Thirty" has garnered public criticism from former presidential candidate and U.S. senator John McCain. The film chronicles the events surrounding the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and opens with a black ops interrogator using techniques such as water boarding and sleep deprivation to gain information from a detainee.

McCain, who was tortured himself for years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War was critical about the fact that the film implies that violent interrogation techniques of prisoners led to crucial information during the hunt for bin Laden.

SOUNDBITE: Senator John McCain, saying (English):

"They make it appear that the brutal interrogation techniques obtain useful information. The fact is they didn't, the fact is they even got false information from water boarding and other forms of torture."

McCain said that "Zero Dark Thirty," which is already gathering buzz for the upcoming awards season, left him sick.

The film opened in New York and Los Angeles on December 19th, and will have a wider release on January 11th.