The Academy Got It Right

Rating: 8/10 (11 January 2011)

THE HURT LOCKER is a film that only got a limited worldwide release but opened to unanimous praise from critics . Nine months after its release it was up against AVATAR at the Academy Awards . . AVATAR's worldwide gross at the time of writing stands at 2.78 billion dollars whilst THE HURT LOCKER has grossed a grand total of 49 million dollars . It was classic battle of David vs Goliath and David slew Goliath winning six Oscars including best picture and best director compared with AVATAR's three minor Oscars . A lot of people have given up on the Oscars over the last couple of decades but like the year when CRASH beat BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN the Academy voters have rehabilitated themselves by giving the best picture to the film that deserved it the most . This film deserved to soundly beat Cameron's movie .
!!!!!! SUGGESTIVE SPOILERS !!!!!
Some people of a military background have criticised the film for a lack of realism in operational matters and having never served in a conflict I'll take their word for it . What is important in film making is artistic license , similar to John Ford's mantra of " Always print the legend " but the film does suffer slightly from incidents that don't ring true such as Sgt James holding a suspected insurgent t gunpoint and making him drive to a characters house only for him to hike through downtown Baghdad back to base . There's also another unlikely event where Sgt James gets two colleagues to follow him in to a dangerous district without any backup . I realise this is character development where James is becoming more addicted to the conflict but one can't help feeling screenwriter Mark Boal could have done this in a more successful way because it does jar somewhat
That said the other aspects of the film work superbly . Kathryn Bigelow directs in a cinema verity way with hand held cameras and sharp elliptical editing and use of sound . One noticeable use of sound is a gun battle in the desert . A bullet from a modern assault rifle travels roughly three times the speed of sound and accordingly the old cliché that " you never hear the bullet that kills you " happens here , and it's much more effective than cinematic convention a character falls down dead as a gunshot in the distance rings out . The scene also makes good use of lighting . There's no time frame on the scene but you can tell it happens over a considerable period due to the sun light dulling . How many times have you seen this type of sequence and it always seems to take place in real time
Films about the war in Iraq have performed poorly in box office terms and THE HURT LOCKER is no exception . It does stand head and shoulders above its fellows down to the critical praise it has garnished . I had previously thought that Nick Broomfields THE BATTLE OF HADITHA was the best film featuring Iraq but Bigelow's movie overtakes it . Interestingly both films try not to bring too much politics in it and whilst Broomfield has scene where a Jihadist cleric is overjoyed that civilians have been killed by the Americans , THE HURT LOCKER sees an Iraqi civilian used as a proxy bomb . You might not agree with the invasion of Iraq but every fair minded person must see that the worst human right offenders aren't wearing American uniforms