Perhaps the surprise late summer hit of 2009 The Hurt Locker is an unlikely star after months of Transformers/Harry Potter drudgery; deviating entirely away from recent war film convention and introducing the first mutterings of Oscar glory for lead star Jeremy Renner. Make no mistake, this is a film no right minded studio exec would ever choose to green light, ticking every 'No' box on the 'How to make a profitable movie' and breaking just about all the preconceived rules with regards to portraying the politically sensitive War in Iraq.
The plot is pleasingly restrained, the atmosphere perfectly paced and each scene is refreshingly fraught with tension: a reckless yet stunningly courageous bomb disposal expert (Renner) leads a three man team on a series of increasingly dangerous missions in and around Bagdad, deactivating deadly IED's (Improvised Explosive Devices) and gunning down insurgents hell bent on wreaking violent havoc. The material is prescient; much has been made by the British media of the increasingly large death toll of our armed forces at the hands the sophisticated IED's sprinkled liberally across Afghanistan by Taliban forces. Here we come face to face with the men carrying out these suicidal maneuvers and their emotional responses to the death and destruction constantly lurking in the foreground. We feel their fear, we breathe the same shallow lungfuls of oxygen Renner inhales from his disposal suit, we sweat their sweat and like them we grow increasingly tired and angry with the confused, bloody hell that they are forced to endure on a daily basis.
Many critics have hailed the fact thatBigelow refuses to deal with politics, this is an astute and acute reflection of soldiering in near impossible circumstances and whilst the detailed portrayal of the current situation in Iraq certainly raises important politicized moral questions nevertheless there is never a sense of liberal lecturing or subtle hawking at play. Equally Bigelow is brave enough to confront uncomfortable truths about war, namely the possibility that some soldiers actually relish the danger and adrenaline of frontline action. Renner is one such soldier, lost in the bland comfort of the family home and plentiful Walmart, yet addicted to the grimy rush of war and the unbearable proximity of death.
Performances are solid; Renner is engaging and personable but the star of the show is Anthony Mackie as his subordinate Sgt. JT Sanborn, who combines measured pathos with fear, revulsion and desperate fragility as Renner's overbearing confidence and the horrors of their daily grind slowly diminish his assured spirit.
As for the production team it is difficult to praise them highly enough. Bigelow deliberately uses multiple cameras to mimic the movements of the human eye and has roped in cinematographer Ben Ackroyd of United 93 fame to enhance the palpability of the raw, highly physical fight scenes. Shot in 44 days in Jordan, at some points only three miles from the Iraq border this is as visceral and involving a film about the current conflict in the Middle East, as it is possible to make. As Bigelow herself argues this 'muscular' style of camera work and editing leads to a sense of 'total immersion,' and she gets her pay off with some remarkable scenes of cinematic catharsis that left this viewer almost choking on his parched throat!
With the exception of David Simmon's (creator of The Wire) Generation Kill TV mini series, this is the most starkly shocking, emotionally moving and (most importantly) entertaining analysis of the West involving itself in the affairs of Iraq and Afghanistan that one is likely to see this side of Paul Greengrass' Green Zone out next year.
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