The Hurt Locker

In a previous post, I mentioned writing an essay in university about how the Vietnam war was portrayed on film. If I were to write a paper on the Iraq-Afghanistan conflict, one of the movies highlighted would be 'The Hurt Locker'.

'The Hurt Locker' is this year's 'Slumdog Millionaire', a little movie about a big and complex topic. Initially, I did not want to see this movie - who needs to see a movie about war when we can turn on the television and watch the news coverage. If you have the opportunity go see this movie - it is great.

The film has been touted as a front-runner to win the Best Picture Golden Globe and perhaps an Academy Award. It has been winning a lot of the critic's choice awards in the past few weeks. Kathryn Bigelow, the director and producer, is part of a small and elite group of women directors in Hollywood, even more rare is a woman directing a movie about war.

The story in brief is "An intense portrayal of elite soldies who have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world: disarming bombs in the heat of combat. When a new sergeant, James, takes over a highly-trained bomb disposal team amidst violent conflict, he surprises his two subordinates, Sanborn & Eldridge, by recklessly plunging them into a deadly game of urban combat. James behaves as if he's indifferent to death. As the men struggle to control their wild new leader, the city explodes into chaos, and James' true character reveals itself in a way that will change each man forever." Written by BWR Public Relations.

Jeremy Renner plays Sergeant William (Will) James, a performance which walks a tightrope between brash, cowboy-like, hot-shot a bit like Jesse James yet also showing that although his methods deem to put his unit in danger, he shows himself to care for his fellow soldiers as well as attempting to connect with the native population. This is my favourite best actor performance of the year and the National Society of Film Critics awarded him, Kathryn and the movie respectively Best Actor, Best Director and Best Picture earlier today.

The subject matter is difficult, some of the scenes are very graphic however it is well worth your time to observe the lives of those part of a bomb disposal unit in Iraq.