Zero Dark Thirty team plan film about freed prisoner of war Bowe Bergdahl

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jun/17/kathryn-bigelow-bowe-bergdahl-film-us-army

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The Oscar-winning team behind The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, are to bring the story of freed US prisoner of war Bowe Bergdahl to the big screen.

Deadline reports the project is one of two competing proposed films about the US army sergeant, who was held prisoner by the Taliban for five years after leaving his base in Afghanistan. Bergdahl was released in May in exchange for five members of the Taliban who were being held at Guantánamo Bay. The circumstances of his capture and release have been a source of controversy in the US, with some rightwing critics labelling the soldier a deserter.

A separate movie about Bergdahl is reportedly being put together by three-time Oscar nominee Todd Field, the director of In the Bedroom and Little Children, and is based on a Rolling Stone article about the prisoner of war by the late investigative reporter Michael Hastings. However, the high-profile nature of Bigelow and Boal's team may make it difficult for other filmmakers to get final green light.

The director-screenwriter duo have form when it comes to meticulously researched wartime drama. The Hurt Locker is considered one of the finest films about the Iraq conflict and won six Oscars in 2010, including prizes for best picture, best director and best original screenplay. Zero Dark Thirty was a clear early frontrunner for the 2013 Oscars, until controversy over its depiction of the use of torture in the hunt for Osama Bin Laden derailed its bid.

US officials said last week that the army had not yet formally begun a new review into the circumstances of Bergdahl's capture, and whether he walked away without leave or was deserting the army when he was found and taken by insurgents. The Obama administration has been criticised for agreeing to release the prisoners in exchange for the sergeant. Observers have said the five Taliban members could return to the battlefield.

Bergdahl's story might lend itself to a tale of battlefield disorientation. The sergeant reportedly left his base after becoming disillusioned with incompetence and bureaucracy in Afghanistan, wandering around until he was captured by the Taliban. The religiously minded, home-schooled Idahoan also spent time at a Buddhist monastery and tried to join the French foreign legion prior to joining the army.

His case has obvious parallels with that of another young American soldier who failed to fit in: the jailed intelligence analyst and whistleblower Chelsea Manning.