tMF | The Movie-Fanatic

Starring: Jeremy Renner, Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Release Date: June 26, 2009 (Limited)
Running Time: 131 min
MPAA Rating: R
Distributor: Summit Entertainment

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A tiny robotic camera used to capture up-close images of bombs hidden in rubble and buried under ground pans across the thirsty desert terrain capturing the dirt, grittiness and hastening feet of a culture used to moving hurriedly and cautiously. These dusty streets of Baghdad act as an aversion for most directors who previously decided to take a chomp out of the war in Iraq and leaving out a vital part in the process. They treaded waters that led them to idiotic and repetitive ideological views (Lions for Lambs and In the Valley of Elah) missing the instinctive nature of war itself. Ms. Kathryn Bigelow dignifies her filmmaking by projecting an impetuous display of how war acts as a consummate drug, both fulfilling and decapitating the soul of those participating in war.
 
Once the drug is digested and the adrenaline is at full-throttle the need to accomplish something becomes the main priority of a soldier. In one’s blood-stream the will to cheat death, the courage it takes to disarm an explosive device that would blow an entire city to shreds, and the process of healing a psychological scar are all made possible given war’s demented opportunities that can serve as a vessel for both instances. The Hurt Locker portrays a trio of soldiers who exert their courage by risking their lives every time they awake in Baghdad 2004.  

A US Army bomb squad trio, Delta Company, is steadily facing potential death every time they are called upon to detect and dismantle an explosive device. Some of the devices are buried fairly simple and others are an elaborate labyrinth of multicolored wires buried in the most outlandish of places.  After witnessing their partner die in the process of such an act, Sgt. J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) welcome their new leader, Staff Sgt. Will James (Jeremy Renner). Sanborn and Eldridge are your typical soldiers. The former tries to do everything by the Army code book while the latter is haunted by an event that he believes he is the one to blame for a soldiers death.  Will on the other hand has dismantled over 800 bombs in his career and can recall all diffusions he ever attempted. He chose this job. He has a sick passion for it and lets Sanborn and Eldridge know about it. Every time this trio is called upon a furiously tense scene is on the horizon. Whether it is a shoot-out in the desert or a terrorizing lesson disarming a bomb there is always pure cinema on display and not just aimless explosions. These scenes have deep humane meanings on display. Not only does Bigelow capture the realistic action but is able to see the psychological battle taking place within the heads of the three soldiers. It is equally tormenting as the war itself. 

The rawness of Renner’s character is viewed under excellent supervision by Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal (a former embedded journalist in Iraq). This is undoubtedly a star making performance that should be recognized when Oscar comes around. Bigelow (K19: The Widowmaker) and Boal’s acute awareness of Renner’s Will James’ fine, wild and rare qualities is conveniently put to use in an environment that doesn’t see many of Will’s caliber. He indicates a new species of soldiers, the likes a casual soldier never thought existed. Never letting people know his true feelings he keeps a stone-like persona oozing coolness and rawness. When Delta Company has to disarm an explosive he is the one who suits up and disarms it. While still being loyal he rebels against his two teammates in the process, and staring death right in the eye his teammates are as in much danger as he is.

That urge and ecstasy of “just making it” out of death’s grasp is Will’s drug. Any soldier ready to upend his family life in order to lie out in the open and disarm a bomb in the middle of an Iraqi market is an addict for war. It does not hurt to think of one’s self as a hero when attempting the job he is so passionate about. He does just that. Bigelow and Boal do such an extraordinary job at making Will James a product of war; his humor, demeanor, and way of thinking are all related to the toll war has taken on him, even if the toll, in Will’s eyes, is a passionate toll.

No scene in The Hurt Locker lacks urgency or wildness. Bigelow’s direction isn’t solely recognized for relentlessly jamming her camera into the scorching heat so it capture some turn of violence and tension. Her direction is meant to show the carnage outside which then depicts the soldiers’ insides that are being poisoned with a sick passion for war. Her direction and the movie score massively for digging deep into the confines of soldiers’ minds and discovering their fears, desires and the ability of what triggers their instinct to become heroic.  

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