Thursday 4 December 2014

Hurt Locker Film Review

The Tagline - “War is a drug.”

The Hurt Locker Film is considered propaganda


Moving away from the controversy surrounding the film The Hurt Locker and whether it is considered propaganda or pro-US, I would like to focus on the film as an individual entity and not draw or shift attention to the debate surrounding US involvement in Iraq. The focus of this review is to uncover the film within its own narrative and film representation. It is important to remember that Hollywood cinema projects a view of the world that is both ideological and confined by the restrictions of the Hollywood production system.

Perhaps the only indicator of the controversy surrounding a film is its box office success and Hurt Locker certainly did not break any box-office records in consideration of its estimated budget versus the box-office. This is a key indicator that the film is an artistic, although perhaps misguided, vision of the director rather than a formulaic film with a conventional narrative and character development.

Drawing attention to the tag line “war is a drug,” it is worth noting that the realisation of the driving forces, the essence behind why the soldiers do what they do, is that are looking for their next fix. They are addicted to combat and the adrenaline rush of action. There is no need to become frustrated at the lack of in-depth Iraqi characters, or how scenes do not reflect actual battle reality. All film is pure creation, even the Neo-realist cinema from Italian during the 1930s-1940s ceased to become reality once the image passed through the lens of the camera.

BUY the Hurt Locker from Amazon.com here

Hurt Locker [Blu-ray] 

A relationship within the film that needs attention drawn to it is that between Sergeant First Class William James and the small Iraqi child called Beckham. The relationship is interesting because at first the interaction is both light-hearted and then turns darker, with overtones of violence – even if only spoken through words.

In essence the job of the IED bomb disposal team is to be surrounded by potential hazards from mysterious bombers, every friendly face could be the culprit, they are strangers in a strange land – and yet here a bomb disposal wild-card jokes with a young child about adult DVDs. The issue is not the conflict between the people of Iraq or Americans, but rather about the fact that the IED experts need the next fix. The relationship merges between joking and searching for the missing boy and the discovery of a bomb-laden child. The effects of this addiction impacts William James inability to stay on a constant emotional level with his newfound friend, moving between withdrawal symptoms and real human concern and anxiety as noted by his search for the missing Beckham.

A war film directed by a woman?

Briefly mentioning the director Kathryn Bigelow, it is worthy to note that as a director her previous notable films Blue Steel (1989) Near Dark (1987) Point Break (1991) and Strange Days (1995) – all deal with characters who live beyond the normalities of society, on the fringe of conventional acceptance by their peers.

The film has to remain isolated from the people of Iraq, because this is the condition in which the soldiers are placed. The alienation of the Iraqi people present in the film is a statement about the real alienation faced by the soldiers. This is not a propagandist view by any means but an observation.
“The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug.” As American War Correspondent and Journalist Chris Hedges quoted and we see this during the final moments of the film. William James is back in action and the days left until his rotation finishes is 365 days, 365 days to revel in his addiction.

BUY and Watch the Hurt Locker from Amazon.com here

Hurt Locker [Blu-ray]



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