Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirty, which dramatises the events leading to the killing of Osama Bin Laden,  won the best picture of 2012 at the National Board of Review awards. It also took the Best Director Award for Kathryn Bigelow, Best Actress for Jessica Chastain. who plays  the CIA agent hunting Bin Laden.

This was the second honouring of the film, having won the best picture, best director and best cinematography at the New York Critics Circle earlier this week.

Zero Dark Thirty’s early successes makes it a front runner in the Oscar race. Kathryn Bigelow’s last movie, The Hurt Locker, won 6 Academy Awards in 2009.

The group bestowed the Best Actor award on Bradley Cooper from Silver Linings Playbook. The director of the movie, David O’Russell, took the trophy for the Best Adapted Screenplay, while Rian Johnson, the director of sci-fi thriller Looper, was awarded for the Best Original Screenplay.

Leonardo Dicaprio won the Best Supporting Actor for playing a slave owner in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained.

Argo’s star and director, Ben Affleck received the accolade for Special Achievement in filmmaking, while the cast of the musical Les Miserables won the Best Ensemble award.

The National Board of Review, which was formed in 1930, is the US’s longest-established critics awards. Its accolades are currently voted on by its 150 members, comprising film enthusiasts, film-makers, academics and students.