9/11 family 'outraged' by Zero Dark Thirty

ZERO Dark Thirty, the movie about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, has drawn criticism from the family of a 9/11 victim.

Premiere of Zero Dark Thirty

ZERO Dark Thirty, the movie about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, has drawn criticism from the family of a 9/11 victim.

The family of Betty Ann Ong, a flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 11 which crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, have labelled the film 'outrageous.'

The opening scenes of Kathryn Bigelow's film uses a real life call from Ong in its opening sequence, her brother Henry Ong says without the family's permission.  Ong called in to American Airlines operations centre and alerted the company that the plane had been hijacked and along with fellow flight attendant Amy Sweeney, relayed the seat numbers of the hijackers in the 23-minute call.

The New York Times reports that Mr Ong has written to Mark Boal, the writer and producer of Zero Dark Thirty, and asked to include a credit for Ong as well as an apology to her family.

“I thought it was just outrageous, and totally poor judgment, and an abuse of the voices,” Mr. Ong said.

Mr Boal, who has expressed sympathy in the past for the victims of 9/11 and their families, put out a statement responding to the criticism.

“As the 9/11 commission justly proclaimed, Betty Ong is without a doubt one of our national heroes,” he wrote.

However he did not say whether the filmmakers intended to give Ong a credit or if they would donate to the foundation set up in Ong's name as requested by her family.