Zero Dark Thirty, the dark and supposedly realistic expose of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques, used in the hunt and eventual capture of Osama Bin Laden, has prompted an unexpectedly heated response.

After the CIA panned the film for giving an unrealistic impression of the CIA’s practices, earlier this week, members of the US Senate have stepped up the pressure on the CIA over their response. Too complicated to follow? We’re right there with you. Apparently, the senators, including Dianne Feinstein, the head of the Intelligence Committee, asked the CIA to provide proof that the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques were used in the hunt for Bin Laden.

The letter, which doesn’t really seem to make a distinct stance on the matter is only the latest in a wave of uproar, created by the film. The initial screenings of the Zero Dark Thirty managed to reignite the debate over the techniques, which most equate to torture, but which reportedly have been abandoned by the Bush administration and this is the second letter from senators to the CIA. From the wording it seems to be a case of “do what you have to do as long as nobody knows about it”, but then again, who are we to judge?