The Cinephile’s Journey: The Hurt Locker  

Recommendation: 4/5 Stars  

The Cinephile’s Journey is an attempt to watch and review every film that has won The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Oscar for Best Picture.  

Plot: “During the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his work.” -IMDB 

Review: I am a big fan of American singer/songwriter David Ramirez. In his song, Stone Age, he sings the following lyrics, “Our fathers were drinkers, ‘cause we shifted them off to war. And I’m drunk on a Tuesday, ‘cause I’m just so fucking bored.” 

For many in my generation, I assume this sentiment rings true. Occasionally, it rings true for me. Then I watch a movie like The Hurt Locker and realize there are members of my generation who have a drastically different story to tell.  

The Hurt Locker rings with an authenticity that is deliberate. Over the top war movies have their time and place, but doing so here would not be true to what made the Iraq War unique. Instead, director Kathryn Bigelow uses natural light, long pauses, and quiet tension to deliver us to the frontline. The choice brings war home and matches the stories told by those who have served.  

The film focuses on Staff Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner), a bomb technician who leads a squad of soldiers. William James is cavalier, reckless, and approaches each mission with a John Wayne attitude. For his teammates, his choices can often seem needlessly dangerous. In their estimation, this is especially true in a war zone where death can come from any direction. On every rooftop and in every window, the enemy lies in wait. Much to the credit of the filmmakers, this is a tension you feel running throughout this film. Every outing could be the last for these soldiers, and they make us deeply comprehend this.  

Released in 2008 as America began to fully question the necessity of a conflict in Iraq, this movie also asks us to wrestle with why we asked these soldiers to tempt fate in the first place. The supposed death of an Iraqi child and a fellow soldier forces us, as an audience, to question the mission. Why did we send our sons and daughters halfway around the world? Was the trauma and pain worth it?  

Finally, this film is a study of ego and pride. On the one hand, these are qualities you want stitched into the bravery of every soldier who steps foot on the battlefield. On the other hand, these qualities have real-world consequences that put people in danger and returned soldiers home from war broken by their experiences.  

In the end, this is neither a pro-war nor anti-war film. It is a dramatization of real-world experiences. It presents its story and then asks the audience to question how that made them feel. As someone who has a brother who served in Iraq, it only cemented my feelings.  

Be good to each other,  

Nathan