A Review of The Hurt Locker

Does anyone else find it interesting that The Hurt Locker, a movie about the American invasion of Iraq won an Oscar over its main rival, Avatar, which was a movie about an American invasion of a distant planet? That said, The Hurt Locker was widely advertised as being ‘apolitical’ and with America being so polarised between those who support the war and those who don’t, it was probably wise to steer a middle line.

The Hurt Locker attempts this middle line by simply telling the story of 3 people, all team members of a bomb squad. They don’t really get along because James, the new bomb disposal expert is a risk-taking adrenaline junkie who endangers them all. At the beginning of the movie they have less than 40 days to get through before finishing their tour of duty, and James’ fellow squad members are desperate to make it out in one piece.
The Hurt Locker is brilliantly acted with Jeremy Renner, David Morse and Anthony Mackie taking the lead roles. This is not a movie you necessarily enjoy watching because it does its level best to take you into Iraq – it pins you to your seat with the tension of life on the edge in a war-torn country. People die horribly everyday and the movie attempts to immerse its viewers in the hard-core reality of that. Some of the soldiers react by slowly falling apart while others become adrenaline junkies – living for the ‘thrill’ they get out of danger. However, while different people react in different ways, not one of them escapes without being irrevocably changed.

By the way, I don’t think The Hurt Locker succeeded in being ‘apolitical’. Certainly its portrayal of Iraqis is more than a little condescending and dehumanising. While the Americans are not portrayed as being superior in terms of their morals or value systems, they are still more humanely and less stereotypically depicted. In this we are encouraged to follow them, sympathise with them and even root for them to win the various conflicts they engage in. This is probably because The Hurt Locker is telling their particular story but still I still struggle with how a movie about the Iraq war cannot even touch on the many innocent Iraqis who suffer everyday directly because of American presence in their country. You cannot be ‘apolitical’ if you don’t level the playing fields.

The end of the movie focuses on how the irrevocable change that war brings results in soldiers struggling to settle down into the normality of civilian life. James is stripped bare from his experiences, he is emotionally and morally vacant, and totally out of place in his home. In a rather cynical monologue with his toddler son, James tells him that while he loves many things as a young child, the inevitability of life means he will slowly stop loving ‘many things’ until he is eventually left loving only one or two things. James then sadly concludes by stating that he is left loving only one thing, and by that he means the adrenaline thrill of war.

The Hurt Locker does a good job in the way it illustrates how war and violence can strip people of their essential humanity, leaving them unable to properly function in normal environments. There is no doubt that The Hurt Locker is well made and brilliantly acted. Even though I am skeptical of its ‘apolitical’ stance, I do think its messages on many levels are compelling and thought provoking even if they are difficult to view. I do, however, remain unconvinced that this movie was worth an Oscar because I just don’t think it is worth more than 3 stars out of 5. Be warned that there is violence and quite strong language throughout.