The Hurt Locker

Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow

Review by: Roberto Azula

The Hurt Locker is a film that probably should have come out four years ago, when at least half of America was still bloodthirsty enough to continue our debacle in Iraq.  A tight, often claustrophobic film that follows the harrowing exploits of a bomb diffusion squad, Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break, Strange Days) skillfully shows the lethal tedium of 24 hour paranoia, justified and otherwise.

The film follows three-man squad as they confront roadside bomb after roadside bomb in the unending grind of the US military’s inability to deal with the “insurgency” against an invading force.  Following the death of their team leader, Sgt. JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) must contend with their new leader, hot dog bomb defuser Sgt. William James (Jeremy Renner) who seems to have a death wish. 

But this film does not fall into easy, war movie stereotypes.  All three men are coolly competent in their own ways, dealing with a near-impossible situation among a population that fears and loathes them.  Renner’s character exudes the perfect balance of galling arrogance and humble friendliness of a man struggling to keep his sanity.  He keeps mementoes of his defused bombs in a locker under his bed. Mackie is also superb in his thankless role of trying to keep Sgt. James under some sort of control. Eldridge’s unsentimental goodbye to Sgt. William is hilarious and fitting.

The film is naturalistic and superbly lighted, and avoids any Acopalcypse Now style hallucinatory scenes, relying instead on the fluorescent and grimy lighting of the Baghdad street.  The violence is sharp but never gratuitous or drawn-out; the war feels horribly real.  In the film’s best scene, two sniper teams face off in a white-knuckle game of geometry and telescopic visuals, and here the cinematography of the film really shines. The harrowing realism of the bomb defusing reflects Renner’s extensive training with actual US Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams. 

Yet The Hurt Locker is not shilling for the Department of Defense, as has been the case with many recent films (such as the retarded military product placement fantasies Transformers and Iron Man and the reprehensibly racist Rules of Engagement). My only criticism of the film is the utter anonymity of the Iraqi locals, but perhaps that was the point of the film.  In the cat and mouse game of death between an occupying army and an urban and desert guerilla forces, the notion of “winning the hearts and minds” of the locals is an absurd and long lost dream.