Directed by Kathryn Bigelow - 2008 poster
The Movie won 6 Oscars and 6 BAFTAS; the former included Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. The vast majority of film critic were uniform in their praise. Rotten Tomatoes gave it an approval rating of 97%, based on 289 reviews. Roger Ebert, whom I have often quoted, wrote: The Hurt Locker is a great film, an intelligent film, a film shot clearly so that we know exactly who everybody is and where they are and what they're doing and why. Jeremy Remmer (who played the lead, Sergeant William James) was singled out for praise - Richard Corliss of Time magazine called his performance the highlight of the film, comparing Renner to a young Russell Crowe, He has the cool aplomb, analytical acumen and attention to detail of a great athlete, or a master psychopath, maybe both.
Into the Valley of Death?
Moments which stand out? The discovery of the body believed to be that of the boy 'Beckham' and Sergeant James' slicing into the body to extract explosives; the innocent Iraqi civilian with bombs strapped to his chest which explode after James is unable to cut them free; the blowing up of Lieut-Col. Cambridge.
'There she blows'
The Director, Kathryn Bigelow, kept a tight grip on the story. An opening sentence, The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug, was apparent throughout in Remmer's performance. There was black humour. When asked "What's the best way to go about disarming one of these things?" Remmer replies, The way you don't die, Sir. When his two comrades - again well acted by Anthony Mackie as Sergeant Sanborn and Brian Geraghty as Specialist Owen Eldridge - root about in James' private box of 'goodies' and find detonators from previous exploits, he responds to their questioning looks, This box is full of stuff that almost killed me.
A practice explosion
Another tense moment is when James goes to retrieve his gloves from near where the practice explosion went off (see above picture) and Sanborn muses to Eldridge whether to kill the madman! The ending is not a surprise (once the viewer knows James is not going to get blown up) - when he return to a war zone - this time Afghanistan - to do the only thing I love. Since he says that in front of his little child back in the USA, it hits home that war is an uncompromising drug.
There were criticisms, of course. Tara McKelvey from The American Prospect felt it was pro-U.S. Army propaganda and a most effective recruiting vehicle for the U.S. army. Of course, to the forefront was the Australian 'journalist' John Pilger, to whom anything that Australia, the USA or the UK (or probably any country in the Western First World) carry out is anathema. He criticised the film as it offers a vicarious thrill via yet another standard-issue psychopath high on violence in somebody else's country where the deaths of a million people are consigned to cinematic oblivion. He has a point, but all his utterances are so jaundiced (I wonder if he ever smiles) and one-sided that it's hard to agree with anything he writes. No, my problem with the film was, whilst recognising its good cinematic qualities, once or twice I felt like shouting Get on with it! The ambush in the desert dwelt too long on the dead bodies etc. I think I'm saying that it was not my kind of film. I certainly don't want to watch it again, whereas several of the other Great 50 I am sure I will return to.
2010 DVD
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