Hurt Locker (2008) by Zachary vanBuuren

Title/Year; The Hurt Locker, 2008


Director/Birth Country/Year Born; Kathryn Bigelow/U.S./1951


Budget; 15 million


Gross; 49 million

Synopsis;  The Hurt Locker is a story of a bomb disposal unit during the Iraq conflict in 2004. Jeremy Renner plays Sergeant First Class William James who replaces the previous team leader after an unfortunate death that occurs within the beginning of the film. James joins Anthony Mackie as Sergeant J. T. Sanborn and Brian Geraghty as Specialist Owen Eldridge. Stanborn and Eldridge are initially shocked at James's approach to bomb disposal, which could be seen as care-free and impulsive, a huge change from the methodical and routine methods that are established in the first few scenes. James asserts his leadership by continuing his reckless behavior and putting himself into dire situations, much to the complaints of his team, which struggles to support him. James drinks ans smokes heavily, and bonds with his unit by getting into a drunken punching brawl with them. James befriends an Iraqi boy who sells DVDs, and starts a recognizable pattern of decent into madness when he discovers an insurgents hideout and mistakes a corpse bomb for the DVD vendor. James sneaks out of the military base to try to track down the responsible party for the boy's death. He unveils he has a wife and son that he can not face or speak to even when he attempts to call them and has them on the line. His neuroses manifests into one of his unit partners being overcome when he orders than to split up while they are following a lead without proper support. This ends with James shooting one of his companions in the leg while shooting his captors. 
The film continues as James is sent home as his active tour is finished. James return to his wife and child, and is underwhelmed with the monotony of civilian life. James tells his wife that his specialty is desperately needed in Iraq so he can return to the combat zone that he has grown so accustomed to.  

Narrative and Visual Keywords;  Stark, realistic, unfiltered, 


Characterization/ Dialogue; The characters have brief moments of heartfelt dialogue with each other. Most of the conversation is crude and/or military dialogue.


Camera/lighting/editing technique; Handheld shakeycam, natural light, 


 Political/ Social Commentary The Hurt Locker is one of the few war films that does not show a pro/anti war bias. The aim of the film is to portray the brutality of the lives of the soldiers without a particular political spin. 


Historical Relevance/ Recognition; Veterans have critiqued The Hurt Locker as being an unrealistic portrayal of how the EOD unit would function. There has been praise for an accurate representation of battle weary soldiers being overwhelmed at returning to civilian life. 


Notable Collaboration 


Random fact, Etc. The Hurt Locker is one of the only war films with a female director. 

P.O.V. The Hurt Locker is first from the viewpoint of the entirety of the bomb disposal unit. As James becomes more reckless in his operations the P.O.V. switches to solely him. 

Identity, The film is very character driven, even though it makes a solid claim to be a hyper-realistic war film. Because it attempts to place the viewer alongside the soldiers, it rarely shows the soldiers complaining about the situation as well as a major plot point of the film is the addictive qualities of a military lifestyle. 

Morality.  The soldiers are never shown as evil. The enemy is mostly faceless except one scene where a camp psychiatrist decides to join the bomb squad in attempt to better know the trials of what they are faced with. As the doctor attempts to kindly reason with a group of Iraqis, it is soon revealed that they were "the enemy" and placed an improvised explosive device while maintaining a kind face. 

Memory. Because The Hurt Locker was released a short time after the war that it portrays, it has had a sizable impact on veterans from that battle. It film tries top be very realistic as went as far as to hire Iraqi extras to be on the set in Morocco to add to the sense of authenticity. Veterans and soldiers have have reportedly had a great deal of trouble watching the film because of it's hyper-realistic scenery and populace. The goal of Director _____ was to make the films setting as realistic as possible, and it appears she succeeded.