Hurt Locker - THREE stars

Hurt Locker [HL] is a film about war but without the endless mind numbing explosions and gunshot sounds. The explosion sounds and scenes you will hear and see in this film are so aesthetically done that one might forget the seriousness of the situation momentarily, and sit to admire the brilliance with which these are captured.

HL is an Iraq war film with a different perspective. It is not the usual exhaustion inducing, pro or anti Bush rant about the war in Iraq. HL is a story about an elite American bomb disposal squad stationed in Baghdad.

The squad has a recent maverick joinee, Sergeant James, who goes about disposing explosives like he were peeling an orange. Though James is brilliant at what he does, his team is insecure around him because he doesn’t follow the safety norms and is capable of putting his own and other people’s lives in danger.

Director Kathryn Bigelow, who won and Oscar for directing HL concentrates on the events that unfold in the everyday life of the war front liners. She uses the hand held camera and minimal music to keep the authenticity of the happenings intact.

HL is like a thrilling poignant documentary that makes you feel the heat without using too many Hollywood style effect enhancers

This is not a feel good movie, and you are not going to walk home all hopeful and motivated to change the world around you. It is surely worth watching once, given that it is a unique war film which talks about the smaller picture ie an average soldier and does not indulge in the larger so called picture, which as we all know by now was anyways bare. Through the story of a bomb disposal squad, Bigelow accentuates the futility of the Iraq war, without lecturing us about it. Without much ado she is able to silently explain to us why the characters behave the way do - and that in itself is an extraordinary achievement!

All said, I do however cynically wonder if this was a film made just to change the image of the US soldiers demeanor in Iraq, eg. their excesses with the Iraqi prisoners - almost as if Bilgelow wanted to say, "hey, the US soldiers suffered too you know!", that brings me to another question, "is that why she won the Oscar?"