The Hurt Locker: A Work of War Worth Watching

                         The Hurt Locker 

I'm at a stage in life where I can't bear to watch violence as a form of entertainment.  Real life makes me anxious enough.   This has presented a problem for my husband and me as one of the things we love to do is go to the movies together.  So, when he said he'd like to see The Hurt Locker,  a movie a group of American soldiers fighting in Iraq, I was quick to decline.  However, I started seeing so many fantastic reviews that I decided to brave it. I’m glad I did. 

The drama focuses on the brave and sometimes brazen technicians who disarm bombs.  Set in 2004, it's based on a real-life journalist's experiences in Iraq. Jeremy Renner (on the right in photo above) plays a techie who lives and breathes for the harrowing experience of working on bombs - to the point that he can't return to a civilian life.  Renner deserves all the accolades he's receiving and could, in fact, pundits say he could even get an Oscar nomination.  Anthony Mackie (on left in photo) is also excellent as one of Renner's support team members. Throughout the film the director, Kathryn Bigelow, does an amazing job of letting the viewer feel like they're inside the soldiers' heads - as they grapple with the stress of being killed at any given moment and their different ways of dealing with it. The interplay between Renner and Mackie is subtly riveting.

We watch as the men go out each day confronting a new, dire and potentially lethal situation.  A wire is spotted in the dirt, they're called in, and as groups of suspicious-looking Iraqis watch from the ground and perched from buildings above, they work at furious pitch to disable the bombs.  It's not just the bomb exploding that they fear.   Often the device is merely bait as snipers hide nearby and wait with an even bigger, more dangerous attack.  

Is it tough to watch?  Yes, it is.  But the truth is, in real life, young men, our young men are out there doing this very thing and dying for their country every day.  It's such a painful fact, we at home often choose to ignore it in our daily life.  It's easier to look away, not reading the paper or stopping to watch the news when the images flash before us. Watching The Hurt Locker made me touch base with this brutally sobering fact. 

It also forced me to think about the war and the new group of troops the Obama has recently sent over. When I look at my 14-year-old son I think: would I want him to go out there in just four years when he is 18, and face that danger and possibly die?   I look into his beautiful, sea blue eyes for answer - the same eyes his father flashed me when I met him - also at the age of 14. It could have been my husband.  It could be my son.  The answer is obvious - I can't imagine sending my child or anyone I love out there.  It begs the question: should these young men be dying for this particular cause?  It's worth giving pause for thought,  and The Hurt Locker made me do just that.

Comments

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What is the purpose of war?
The wars year after year, day by day kill many people. There should be a way we have more peace in Elmundo. People live in a world very nice and we have to care.