The Hurt Locker
Kathryn Bigelow | USA | 2009
131 min
In the risky business of fighting wars, the riskiest tasks belong to the bomb disposal squad of Bravo Company at Camp Victory. The Hurt Locker zeroes on these soldiers in Iraq, thrusting us dead centre in the midst of one bravura bomb sequence after the other. The film is a collection of taut vignettes and up until its last act where it gets personal, remains fairly objective and observant without any obvious sermonizing.
Sergeant James (Jeremy Renner) is assigned to Camp Victory with 39 days remaining before his rotation ends. His work is to diffuse or dispose any explosive devices found on the streets of Iraq and he goes about it with a zeal that others find reckless. His relationship with the members of his squad is put to the test while on duty, forcing each to re-evaluate their stand on the war, along with its purpose and the impact on their lives. The opening title states “The rush of battle is a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug”. This rush and its drug like provision is what the film earnestly deconstructs by focusing on the character of James. The films most remarkable moment occurs not on the battle field but during its last few minutes when James has an honest monologue with his son that reveals much about a soldiers wounded psyche. Actor Renner has a disarming confidence about him, an everyman attitude that distinguishes him as workaholic, not cocky or violently gung ho. In a distinct departure from war movie cliché, he is neither disgruntled nor war weary, approaching every perilous situation with an almost pleasant eagerness borne out of experience and possibly war fatigue.
The threats in the film are heightened, thanks to director Kathryn Bigelow’s marvelous camera work and precise handling of each bomb disarmament sequence (and there are many ranging from bombs inside cars to bombs inside people). Making excellent use of aural and visual cues, the tense segments become almost unbearable to watch. Strangers passing by, litter on the streets, fighter planes whizzing overhead in sonic boom all add in compounding our fear of hostile surroundings. I found myself almost relieved when the soldiers came back to camp. I’m sure you’ve heard the statement before, but this film really does put the viewer in the centre of the action, in the heat of the moment. Standout scenes, both occurring in the films stronger, better first half, have James trying to defuse a bomb in a rusty car outside a UN building while being filmed by unknown men, and a spellbinding sequence in the desert where the crew is attacked by snipers (the toll and strain on the men really shows). Bigelow may be the biggest revelation for mainstream audiences unfamiliar with her work, but her career as a filmmaker has been preparing her for just such a polished film – her remarkable abilities have always been on full display in the underappreciated gems K-19: Widowmaker and Strange Days.
If every war has its film, then it is true what has already been said about Hurt Locker – that it is indeed the most definitive film about the Iraq war yet, not because it tell us something ideological about the war or its purpose, but because it summarizes so well, the unending, unyielding, almost purposeless brutality and chaos which we read about daily (the films cyclic end only reinstates this viewpoint). This is one of those few films that lingers long after it has ended and which despite what you’ve heard or read about it, still lives up to its hype.
