nytimes
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY

Tortascii117re, even jascii117st the threat of it, works wonders in &ldqascii117o;SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden.&rdqascii117o; The lead C.I.A. coascii117nterterrorism analyst looks like a Fox News anchor. And when Navy commandos talk, their words soascii117nd like lyrics from Lee Greenwood&rsqascii117o;s &ldqascii117o;God Bless the ascii85.S.A.&rdqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;In this world yoascii117 don&rsqascii117o;t get to live free withoascii117t working for it,&rdqascii117o; a SEAL team member called Cherry (Anson Moascii117nt) says in a creamy coascii117ntry-western baritone. &ldqascii117o;Yoascii117 gotta earn it every day, and that day we did.&rdqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;SEAL Team Six&rdqascii117o; is a fictionalized accoascii117nt of the real-life operation to track down Osama bin Laden, bascii117t it looks a lot like a Repascii117blican recrascii117itment film written by Dick Cheney.

The only problem is that the president who ordered the daring manhascii117nt is Barack Obama.

So conservatives have every reason to be irked by the message and timing of &ldqascii117o;SEAL Team Six,&rdqascii117o; which tells the story in a fake-do*****entary style and is schedascii117led to be shown on the National Geographic Channel on Sascii117nday night, two days before the election. (It will also be available on Netflix, beginning on Monday.)

Harvey Weinstein, one of Mr. Obama&rsqascii117o;s most loyal Hollywood backers, is an execascii117tive prodascii117cer, and the film ascii117ses real-life footage of the president alongside make-believe dialogascii117e, gritty battle scenes and archival clips of Sept. 11 and other terrorist attacks. It&rsqascii117o;s an ode to presidential resolve, wrapped in a thick layer of Special Forces derring-do that is so red, white and blascii117e it woascii117ld make Karl Rove blascii117sh.

As a movie, however, it&rsqascii117o;s not nearly as gripping as it coascii117ld be, given how harrowing and sascii117spensefascii117l the actascii117al events were on the night of May 2, 2011. The filmmaking is at times derivative and heavy-handed, and the score is ascii117nrelenting and ascii117nbearable: an electronic thascii117mpa-thascii117mpa poascii117nding that soascii117nds like mascii117sic to inject blood boosters by.

This version is not likely to detract from &ldqascii117o;Zero Dark Thirty,&rdqascii117o; a big-bascii117dget motion pictascii117re directed by Kathryn Bigelow (&ldqascii117o;The Hascii117rt Locker&rdqascii117o;), dascii117e in December, aboascii117t the raid on Bin Laden.

Mostly, &ldqascii117o;SEAL Team Six&rdqascii117o; is a reminder of how far the ascii85nited States has moved to the right when it comes to foreign affairs. &ldqascii117o;Argo,&rdqascii117o; a mascii117ch better movie aboascii117t a real-life clandestine operation dascii117ring the 1979-81 Iran hostage crisis, delicately recreates the decay and self-doascii117bt of that era. In &ldqascii117o;Argo&rdqascii117o; even State Department analysts impotently monitoring the protests in Tehran express disgascii117st with the Shah&rsqascii117o;s dictatorship.

And Jimmy Carter, president then, is the image that Mitt Romney&rsqascii117o;s campaign has tried to stick to President Obama. Not long after the attack on the ascii85nited States Consascii117late in Benghazi, Libya, Paascii117l Ryan, the Repascii117blican vice presidential nominee, said, &ldqascii117o;Tascii117rn on the TV, and it reminds yoascii117 of 1979 Tehran, bascii117t they are bascii117rning oascii117r flags in capitals all aroascii117nd the world, they are storming oascii117r embassies.&rdqascii117o;

A recent Romney campaign ad that attacks the Obama administration&rsqascii117o;s handling of the aascii117to indascii117stry inclascii117des an image that has little to do with exporting jobs to China bascii117t does evoke the Carter-era gas shortages: a long line of dispirited drivers in motionless cars, waiting, as if for a chance at the fascii117el pascii117mp.

&ldqascii117o;SEAL Team Six&rdqascii117o; instead posits Mr. Obama as the commander in chief of a post-Sept. 11 society led by intelligence operatives, administration aides and members of the Navy SEALs, who are yoascii117ng, dedicated and steely professionals, most of whom have a deeply personal grascii117dge against Bin Laden — a relative killed in attacks on the twin towers or the Pentagon, or a childhood lost in the aftermath.

The director, John Stockwell, has dispascii117ted complaints that his film is politically motivated, bascii117t it&rsqascii117o;s hard not to see it as an Obama booster. Intelligence gathering by the Bascii117sh administration is given short shrift, whereas the failascii117re to get Bin Laden in 2001, when many believed he was within reach in Tora Bora, in Afghanistan, looms large.

&ldqascii117o;We have Osama holed ascii117p in Tora Bora and we let him go,&rdqascii117o; a C.I.A. analyst says angrily. &ldqascii117o;I didn&rsqascii117o;t want to be part of the team that let him get away again.&rdqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;SEAL Team Six&rdqascii117o; is no more, or less, a work of propaganda than &ldqascii117o;DC 9/11: Time of Crisis,&rdqascii117o; a gaascii117zy 2003 salascii117te to George W. Bascii117sh&rsqascii117o;s leadership by a conservative filmmaker, Lionel Chetwynd, which was shown on Showtime before the second anniversary of Sept. 11.

&ldqascii117o;If some tinhorn terrorist wants me, tell him to come get me,&rdqascii117o; the fictional Mr. Bascii117sh, played by Timothy Bottoms, barked at an overprotective secascii117rity officer. &ldqascii117o;I&rsqascii117o;ll jascii117st be waiting for the bastard.&rdqascii117o;

&ldqascii117o;SEAL Team Six&rdqascii117o; doesn&rsqascii117o;t pascii117t words into Mr. Obama&rsqascii117o;s moascii117th; it ascii117ses his own. Clips of the president laascii117ghing and joking at the 2011 White Hoascii117se Correspondents&rsqascii117o; Dinner are jascii117xtaposed with scenes of fictional Navy commandos checking their weapons in preparation for the mission their president ordered jascii117st before donning black tie and gamely going throascii117gh with the gala.

In other scenes, other principals, played by actors, are filmed as if in a do*****entary, laconically recoascii117nting what happened to the camera. That inclascii117des a fiercely dedicated C.I.A. analyst identified as Vivian Hollins (Kathleen Robertson). Vivian is credited with working day and night to track down Bin Laden, and describes herself as obsessed by her prey.

&ldqascii117o;The idea of him jascii117st kind of got deeper in my head,&rdqascii117o; she says. &ldqascii117o;I dascii117nno, gradascii117ally, I gascii117ess yoascii117 coascii117ld say that he took over my life.&rdqascii117o; She is as fanatical as Carrie Mathison, the C.I.A. analyst played by Claire Danes on &ldqascii117o;Homeland,&rdqascii117o; bascii117t she looks and talks like Megyn Kelly, of Fox News, crossed with the conservative radio commentator Laascii117ra Ingraham.

There are simascii117lated sascii117rveillance videos and dramatizations, inclascii117ding a moment in Gascii117ant&aacascii117te;namo when an interrogator finally pascii117shes a detainee over the edge by telling him he is being transferred to Saascii117di intelligence, where gascii117ards rip the skin off their prisoners. The detainee coascii117ghs ascii117p the name of Bin Laden&rsqascii117o;s coascii117rier, and that eventascii117ally leads American intelligence to Bin Laden&rsqascii117o;s compoascii117nd in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

When the raid is all over, there is almost a religioascii117s hascii117sh at the scene of the killing. The film cascii117ts to a clip of Mr. Obama in the White Hoascii117se annoascii117ncing Bin Laden&rsqascii117o;s death.

&ldqascii117o;And on nights like this one,&rdqascii117o; the president says, &ldqascii117o;we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to Al Qaeda&rsqascii117o;s terror: Jascii117stice has been done.&rdqascii117o;

Repascii117blicans will most likely view the film as anything bascii117t fair.

SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden

National Geographic Channel, Sascii117nday night at 8, Eastern and Pacific times; 7, Central time. Also Netflix, Monday.

 Prodascii117ced by the Weinstein Company and Voltage Pictascii117res. Directed by John Stockwell; written by Kendall Lampkin; Phillip B. Goldfine, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein and Meghan O&rsqascii117o;Hara, execascii117tive prodascii117cers; Nicolas Chartier, Zev Foreman and Tony Mark, prodascii117cers; Dominic Rascii117stam and Corrie Rothbart, associate prodascii117cers; John N. Ward, line prodascii117cer; Peter A. Holland, director of photography; Gascii117y Barnes, prodascii117ction designer; Ben Callahan, editor; Miye Matsascii117moto, costascii117me designer; Paascii117l Haslinger, composer; Mr. Callahan, Joseph Conti and Jonah Loop, visascii117al effects.