The Hurt Locker

Year Released: 2009

Runtime: 131 minutes

Directed: Kathryn Bigelow

Produced: Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier, Greg Shapiro

Starring: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Evangeline Lilly, Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce

Oscars: Won: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing Nominated: Best Actor (Renner), Best Cinematography, Best Score

IMDb Plot Summary: 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.

Context, Context, Context: What Created The Hurt Locker, and Why it’s Still Relevant

A journalist’s perspective. Screenwriter Mark Boal was a journalist embedded in with an American bomb squad for about two weeks in Iraq in 2004, and over the next few years was inspired to write a screenplay that would capture the mentalities of the types of men who would not only volunteer for this war, but for work this dangerous. He also wanted to capture some lesser-known aspects of being a soldier, as well as the routine of stressful deployment and around-the-base downtime. Bigelow worked with him as he developed these ideas, often storyboarding what he would write and describe in order to create something of a shared vision, and to pick the most accurate locations to build their scenes around as well as firmly bring the audience into this world of Humvees, expansive desert, cramped cities, and contained bomb disposal zones. Bigelow also intentionally cast little-known actors to prevent a current movie star from stealing the show, as well as firmly keep the audience rooted in the attempted authenticity of the film. The cast and crew filmed in Jordan, near the Iraqi border, and populated the scenery with Iraqi refugees. The brutal conditions the crew faced are brilliantly captured onscreen; the off-camera reality matched with what the audience sees. Given this film’s legacy (more on that below), it had quite a small budget by today’s standards of $15 million, and Bigelow milked every dollar of it. She made the wise choice to film this movie documentary-style, and to always have four cameras running in order to capture multiple perspectives on each action piece.

The legacy of The Hurt Locker. I’ll quickly acknowledge some pushback by combat veterans, particularly those who served in/around EOD units – despites critics and audiences praising this film’s realism, it is still a fictitious original story where a rogue Sergeant makes decisions that would never happen leading to situations that would never happen. However, even veterans praise certain elements of this film and its filmmaking for being incredibly authentic, particularly its study of how war and its stress can wear down any psyche. It also portrays explosions accurately, as well as the relationships between U.S. troops and Iraqi citizens. With all of this considered, this film is a marked step towards realism for the whole genre; this film immediately stands in the same company as Saving Private Ryan for its sheer level of achievement, intensity, emotion, and immersive portrayal of combat. It also stands in that company for its success at the Oscars, but was able to secure the win for Best Picture unlike Ryan. This is especially impressive given that its fellow nominees included films like Avatar, District 9, Up, and Inglorious Basterds. This film wasn’t a huge financial success off its modest budget, but one other important history note is that when Kathryn Bigelow won Best Director in 2010 for this film she became the first woman to win; to date, she remains the only one.

The Story and its Characters

A personal war movie. Boal’s choice to focus on the soldiers’ psyche as they are forced to endure some of the most intensely stressful conditions that war has to offer – and how the soldiers’ personalities change in response – create some of the most authentic portrayals of war-related trauma that cinema has to offer. The film also has an interesting structure that adds to this effect; being essentially built around 7 or 8 extended action/suspense scenes with only a little downtime in between wears the audience down in a similar fashion to our main characters. To create a dynamic sense of conflict within the squad, Boal made the character of Sgt. James intentionally renegade in a way that would not match reality, although his cavalier nature is not celebrated by the film. He appears to have a death wish, and his actions frequently put himself in danger and result in him accidentally shooting Eldridge in the leg. His ultimate return to war due to being completely addicted to it is a very fine point for the film to make; sure, he’s an “adrenaline junkie”, but we know how addiction can re-wire someone’s brain. He’s not just bored by civilian life, but he’s overwhelmed by it and uncomfortable with it. That’s really it – the film has some statements to make but leaves the audience to interpret and supply a lot of their own meaning and/or judgements to what they see on screen. This focus on the experiential throughout the film makes it stand out narratively from other films in the war genre.

The performances. The then-unknown cast – a brilliant casting decision – dials in on the realism of their characters and truly inhabits them in an utterly gripping way. I will quickly call out the delightful exception of Ralph Fiennes as the leader of a mercenary group that crosses paths with our squads before being attacked by snipers. Fiennes is cackling maniacally and simply stealing that particular scene. Other great performances surrounding our leads are given by David Morse as Colonel Reed, Christian Camargo as Colonel Cambridge, and Evangeline Lilly as Connie James. Guy Pearce is terrific in the opening scene as Sgt. Thompson, whose sudden death establishes the stakes of every subsequent bomb defusal scenes. However, our three leads each give terrific performances by fully leaning into their characters and their interpersonal friction feels completely natural. Brian Geraghty is terrific as the subdued Eldridge, remorseful for his early inaction and trying to prove himself. He never directly challenges James’ maverick attitude until he is made a victim of it. Anthony Mackie works as more of the direct foil to James as Sanborn, who wants to keep operations by the books and frequently confronts James for his poor decisions. He is also broken by the film’s end in a way that James doesn’t quite experience. Renner turns in the best performance as the film’s lead, rogue, mysterious Sgt. James. This is the performance of a career for many actors, but it elevated Renner into a household name and I firmly believe his best work is ahead of him. James is rarely vulnerable, but the brief glimpses into his soul are quickly diverted by necessity as he jumps from disposal site to disposal site.

Technicalities

Realism vs. Hollywood. Although its story is rife with fictitious situations, this film has an uncompromisingly realistic vision in its technical elements that is one of the largest drivers of its acclaim. This film was built from the ground up to be as immersive as it is literally during the development of the script. Bigelow spent years planning this movie to be as flawlessly executed as it is; and it is damn near flawless. This film appears so documentary-like due to Bigelow’s choice to film every action scene from multiple perspectives using 16mm cameras, and worked with Barry Ackroyd; you’ll recognize his gritty handheld style from United 93, Captain Phillips, and The Big Short. The film is tightly edited, yet by jumping between multiple perspectives of the action we never lose sense our sense of direction in any of the films memorable set piece scenes. The locations that Bigelow and the production team are incredibly authentic and those combined with the documentary techniques brings the audience into the action in a breathtaking way. Bigelow was also adamant in avoiding the fire-orange explosions that we normally see in Hollywood action films, and replaced them with dirty, sandy, dusty ones that veterans point to as among the most realistic in cinema.

John’s Highlight Reel

· Broken robot. The film throws us with no warning or context into its first scene, and we’re introduced to the documentary and naturalistic filmmaking, immensely impressive locations, and most importantly how this film builds tension visually. Close-ups of the IED make us hold our breath; our hearts skip a beat when the wagon carrying the C4 breaks; and we are masterfully taken from on edge to panic but it’s already too late. Sgt. Thompson’s death in a film filled with little-known actors means that anything can happen to anyone at any time.

· Multiple bombs. As the scene progresses, we slowly come to realize just how renegade Renner’s Sgt. Will James is. His actions mix thrills and delights in with the suspense, but after the first scene with Sgt. Thompson, we are hyper-aware of the fact that any of this scene’s tension escalators (a rogue taxi barreling its way at him, the discovery of 6 explosive shells attached to each other) could potentially kill him. By the end of the scene, we understand that James is an absolute master of his craft, but also absolutely reckless; this is what powers the rest of the film.

· U.N. Building. The thrills are in full tilt in this scene, which is another great example of how Bigelow is the master of escalating tension in a way that feels completely organic to the scene. What’s the next small thing that’s gonna kick the suspense into higher gear? Bigelow and the editing team are perfect in introducing the idea that anything can happen, so every new thing that goes wrong for our characters feels perfectly plausible. Bigelow and Boal also use each of these experiences, big or small, to develop the characters and let their dynamics evolve.

· Interludes. These brief “breaths of air” throughout the film is where our characters get to put words to the dynamics that just developed during the most previous action scene. This is also where the actors’ performances are the most crucial; on base, between assignments, our characters are at their most human. As the film progresses and the events take more and more of a toll, the moments on base is where we see the damage done.

· “$500,000 dead or alive.” This scene, while filmed in the same documentary-like style we have come to expect, is far and away the most bonkers and cinematic in the whole film. Ralph Fiennes, who also plays Lord Voldemort, shows up as the head of a crew of British mercenaries who our characters come across in the desert just before getting ambushed. The following long-range shootout is among the best in all of cinema; Bigelow takes her time in getting to the most consequential action when a less talented director would rush this scene.

· Box of things. This is the deepest dive into James’ psyche so far into the film, and it is incredibly rewarding given the lack of it so far. We’ve seen glimpses of humanity as he began to bond with “Beckham”, but we learn more about his addicted and obsessive nature when it comes to EOD work.

· Bombing aftermath. This scene isn’t initially suspenseful when our characters arrive on the scene; they’re investigating the aftermath of an oil tanker bombing, and we spend some extended time taking in the physical and emotional aftermath that we don’t normally experience in this movie; after all, the bombs don’t always go off. The claustrophobic scene in the alleyway that follows is just the right amount of disorienting, and the resulting accidental shooting of Eldridge finally gives James some consequences to his cavalier nature that he must reckon with.

· Steel vest. If you watched James’ first couple of defusals only, you might think that this movie was strictly an action film that shies away from the realities of war’s brutality; this scene is here to prove otherwise. The fact that it takes so long for the troops to realize that the “suicide” bomber is acting against his will exposes some just how fraught the relationships between the troops and Iraqi citizens could be; this film has also given us very few reasons to trust the citizens at these bomb sites.

· “Only one thing you love.” And here’s how the film wraps up in a way that elevates the power of everything else we’ve seen before this; the thesis statement, that “war is a drug” proves to be true. James has become an addict, following an addict’s path: he first volunteers for this because something in his life is missing, and then he finds what he was looking for, but by the time we meet him he is warped into something barely human. As James approaches another bomb site in his newest deployment, the audience wonders how many more he’ll survive.

Came for _____, Stayed for ______

A war/action movie. I had seen and loved plenty of war movies by the time this one came across my radar, and when I saw how lauded it was and its Oscar results, I figured it would be worth my time. I was delighted to discover that a couple of recognizable faces in Renner, Mackie and Geraghty were headlining the film. I did a little research and was excited to see just how well this famous “documentary approach” would turn out.

An uncompromising vision. The approach turned out fantastically – this film stands so far apart from others in the genre due to its immediate realism, and that’s a credit to everyone involved. This film also walks a fine line by unearthing the toxic aspects of James’ character without completely indicting him or his fellow soldiers. After all, the film claims that war is a drug – and therefore war is the problem. How each of these men respond to war varies and drives the action of this film, and this film proves that it’s possible to condemn war without condemning those who fight it, and it can have profound effects on the soul and psyche.