Director Kathryn Bigelow is defending torture scenes in “Zero Dark Thirty,” saying the military hunt for Osama bin Laden wasn’t free of moral consequences.

The best picture Oscar-nominated film opens by declaring it’s based on firsthand accounts of actual events.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and other lawmakers have criticized the film as misleading for suggesting torture led to the location of Bin Laden.

But Bigelow writes in the Los Angeles Times  on Wednesday that torture was part of the story and the backlash may be misdirected.

She says critics should perhaps direct their anger at those who ordered U.S. torture policies rather than her film.

Bigelow says it seems illogical to make a case against torture by denying the role it played in counter-terrorism policy and practices.