It took a female director to make an Iraq War movie a truthful
examination of manhood. The Hurt Locker avoids obvious political
agendas for something more primal: The mindset that values war as a
daredevil flirtation with death. Legendary filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow
contrasts the cocky war addiction of bomb squad Sgt. James (Jeremy
Renner), with his prudent comrade Sgt. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie).
Sanborn sees a life beyond this daily risk of life and limb. For James,
this is home. Bigelow and writer Mark Boal construct The Hurt
Locker as an episodic series of disarmament scenes. Over the
intense, fast-moving course of it, characters don’t traditionally
“arc.” Instead, things are revealed about them—what was once
contemptible becomes understood. The hand-held photography rises above
the cliched shaky-realism of The Kingdom; Bigelow uses the
documentary style to frame her shots with beauty. Her camera moves with
a precision, refocusing itself as though the world is viewed through a
sniper scope. The Hurt Locker delivers sustained thrills, while
excelling as a penetration of a dehumanized soul.
This article appears in Jul 30 – Aug 5, 2009.