Zero Dark Thirty filmakers question US use of drone strikes Boal, responding to questions from the audience, added: "Drone strikes are continuing at a pace that Bush in his wildest dreams, or Cheney... would never have imagined, that you could do this sort of thing. There should be a conversation about that I think. The film, which is nominated as best picture at this year's Oscars, opens by declaring it is based on firsthand accounts of actual events. Bigelow has maintained that avoiding the controversial aspects of the film would mean the world would be "relegated to repeat" the same mistakes. "That's what makes me really gratified as a filmmaker and it kind of is illuminating about the power of the medium to ignore conversations that can be so emotionally acute," she said. You're just going to be relegated to repeat it if we don't look at it. Those were difficult, difficult, difficult scenes to shoot. Difficult for me, difficult for the cast difficult for the crew to witness and experience But it's part of the story, I guess as a filmmaker you've got to try not to be so emotional towards those kind of situations. Writing in the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, she added that torture was part of the story and suggested critics should direct their anger at those who ordered US torture policies instead.