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Title: The Hurt Locker
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| CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parents, strong language and violence makes this one for adults. Recommended for ages 17 and up. |
The opening of “The Hurt Locker” explains that war is a drug. This quote is sure to make many anti-war activists upset, but this clearly must be the case. For all the horrible things that are done in war, for all the futility of it, and for all the talk that with war we send our own men to die pointless deaths, it should be noted that many young men still volunteer to go to war. What’s more, many re-enlist even after their service is over. There have been several movies about the Iraq war. Most of them were anti-war, made to try and convince people that the Iraq war is bad.
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Of course, since most people felt this way anyway most people stayed away from these films. At this point the film makers were preaching to the choir. In “The Hurt Locker” the politics of the war in Iraq are not discussed. There is no talk of 9/11, George W. Bush, President Obama, or Saddam Hussain. This is simply the story of three men who have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world: Deactivating bombs. After a horrible accident claims the leader of this group, the team gets a new leader named Staff Sergeant James (Jeremy Renner). His job is to safely deactivate the bombs, but his team suspects that he enjoys the thrill of danger even more.
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James has deactivated over 800 bombs. When asked what his secret was he replies “Staying alive.” These simple words are cliche, but they hold a different kind of weight when he says them. Unlike his other team members that can’t wait for their service to be over James is more then happy to put his life in danger. He has no thoughts about the war or it’s implications, so long as he gets to the job that makes him feel most alive. At one point he is in an ordinary supermarket, tasked with the job of getting a box of cereal. The look in his eyes shows that he is so disconnected from the real world he may never know happiness off the battlefield again.
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The movie was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, who has had a rather shakey career in directing movies. Though her movies have always been stylishtically interesting, they have been shallow and forgettable. With “The Hurt Locker” she’s finally shown that she has the potential to be a great director, making the movie tense and scary throughout most of the film. She lets the camera display the riviting action sequences and trusts the actors to let their characters be real people. This is easily one of the best films of the year, and it may be the first great Iraq war movie we’ve seen yet.
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