Somehow, it seems, in making a film about the hunt for Bin Laden, director Kathryn Bigelow was supposed to either gloss over how the CIA went about its operations or make a judgement and show it all in a bad light.
It has also been suggested that the only reason we're talking about this is because both Zero Dark Thirty and its star, Jessica Chastain, are up for awards.
Whatever the motives behind the discussion, it's been easy to forget that in the midst of all the hubbub is a movie.
And what a movie.
Anyone who saw The Hurt Locker will already know that Bigelow knows her way around a military compound or two - and here again she excels herself.
Sure, we all know how this story plays out (if you don't, I can only assume you were in the back of the cave America was searching for...), but that in no way detracts from the emotional punch of this film.
This is no small part down to the excellent Chastain (she of The Help fame).
Through her portrayal of the driven CIA agent Maya, we are taken through the dead ends, the back streets and the explosions before being made to sit on the sidelines as the army go in.
By the end, I was sharing Maya's tears.
There is tension throughout this movie, there are moments where you jump in your seat as bombs go off, and during the raid on ol' BL's compound I was actually holding my breath.
You see, Bigelow's gift is how she tells the story.
Things start off slow, as we join the CIA in being all at sea in the search for the world's biggest Bogeyman. We are shown how the world got involved, how London tragically played its part in the play by being victim of the 7/7 attacks, how those at the top were so afraid of making the wrong call they almost preferred making no call at all.
And while all this is going on, you are just gripped in your seat, unable to take your eyes off the screen.
Chastain is simply mesmerising as the driven CIA agent who dedicates her professional life to hunting the man behind the 9/11 attacks, perfectly capturing the shift from uncomfortable newcomer to fiery ice maiden who keeps pushing until the job is done.
The supporting cast, meanwhile, is equally up to the task. There's no one being carried here. Every actor brings their A-game, every word uttered has a point and meaning. Nothing is there to be trimmed.
Writer Mark Boal also deserves all the plaudits and credits heading his way. By eschewing any backstory for any of the characters, we are left to focus purely on what is happening in the 'here and now' and what lies ahead. We don't need to know where Maya grew up, we don't need to know where she went to college. All necessary information is in the detail of the dialogue, you need nothing more.
A brief word, then about the torture. Sure everyone's talking about it, but given it takes up a sizeable chunk of the opening third of the film, it's hard not to.
There are no judgements to be made here. Bigelow simply says that it happened - which it did. To say otherwise would seriously dent the movie's credibility. Dan has been at it a while and is hardened to it, Maya hasn't and isn't.
What the film tells us is that torture changes people - on both sides of the bucket of water - without necessarily getting the required result.
The point is well made that information gained under duress can not be trusted, and that sometimes simply checking a folder more thoroughly can get the required result.
Looking back at Zero Dark Thirty, and trimming away all the white noise, what you have is a gripping thriller.
I wasn't a fan of the use of 'chapters' (captions telling us where we were in the story), as it seemed to lend the film an air of docu-drama that was both unwarranted and inaccurate - but that's a minor quibble.
It's funny, in a way, that this is a week where two of America's (and, by inference, the world's) landmark historic moments are played out on screen. One wonders what Lincoln would have said if he'd known where his fledgling nation was headed.
Put more simply, I've run out of superlatives.
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