Oscar contender: The Hurt Locker

I finally got The Hurt Locker through Netflix, after it had been labeled "very long wait" for a very long time. There was no way I would have watched this movie except for two things 1) it was directed by a woman and 2) it is nominated for best picture. I do not go for war movies. But I wanted to see what a war movie directed by a woman and considered one of the best pictures of the year would be like.

So, first of all, yes it is still a war movie. There are bombs and military garb, and sweaty men drinking whiskey and wrestling with each other. There's alpha dog behavior and testosterone. The movie is basically about a bomb squad in Iraq. Their leader dies and a new guy, William James, replaces him. William James is wild and heroic and inspires his followers. The most interesting aspect of the film is James' psychology. As the viewer, we can see that he is on the edge of something- sanity, maybe?

James bonds with a young boy who is later killed. There is a sequence with James running around Baghdad as a vigilante, a wannabe Batman searching in a city of "infidels" for someone to blame for his young friend's death. James becomes an impostor, a vulnerable outsider doing a dangerous job for unknown, unclear reasons. There is no Truth to found in this version of war.

For me, the clearest statement of the film was the last five minutes. We see James back in the states, utterly lost in the sterile aisles of a giant grocery store. He is unable to bond with his family. The distance between the two realities- one of war, one of homeland- feels immense and uncrossable. When James goes back to Iraq, you can feel his joy. The war has changed him. He can't get that intensity of feeling, the tick tock countdown of a bomb, the adrenaline of good versus evil, anywhere else.

Good film, but I don't know if it is great. It wasn't radical, or cinematically stunning. It wasn't even that original. But despite all the macho violence, it did have a heart and drew me in. That's success in my book.