Its strength lies in the experience

Rating: 10/10 (19 July 2009)

Paul Rieckhoff, a former Marine and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans for America, said that "Not everyone comes home from the war wounded, butnobody comes home unchanged," Indeed, the Army's first study of the mental health of troops who fought in Iraq found that about one in eight reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder: flashbacks, nightmares, feelings of detachment, irritability, trouble concentrating and sleeplessness. Even more distressing is the fact that the suicide rate among veterans is almost four times the average for non-veterans of the same age.
The possible reasons behind these statistics are spelled out in Kathryn Bigelow's magnificent The Hurt Locker, a heart-wrenching film that explores the world of Explosive Ordinance Disposal technicians in Iraq whose job is to locate and disarm IEDs. Structured around the 38 days three men in the EOD squad have left in their rotation, the film is set in Baghdad in 2004 and shot with a hand held camera that underscores the sudden movements and constant tension of the unit which must constantly scan rooftops and hiding places for possible snipers.
In the opening sequence, EOD Team Leader, Sgt. Matt Thompson, (Guy Pearce) is killed when, after his robotic hardware device fails, he is forced to manually neutralize a bomb that explodes. Mirroring the opening quote from American author and journalist Chris Hedges, "The rush of battle is a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug," Thompson's replacement, Sgt. William James (Jeremy Renner), thrives on the adrenaline rush his job entails, seemingly oblivious to the dangers he faces or even the reality of the world around him. Unsurprisingly, problems with the other two officers on the squad soon manifest. Sgt. J. T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie), a by-the-book soldier finds James a bit too willing to disobey protocol and take unnecessary risks.
Called "a wild man" by a visiting colonel, Sgt. James claims to have dismantled 900 IEDs. At one point, James takes off his protective helmet and disconnects his communications gear so that a disbelieving Sanborn is unable to communicate with him. In addition, his reckless actions seems to enhance the fears of Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty), who is seeking private counseling for his obsession with death. Though James is a "hot dog", he is a complex character as portrayed by Jeremy Renner in an Oscar caliber performance. He befriends an Iraqi boy who sells DVDs, gives his support to the troubled Eldridge, calls his wife and young son frequently, and reaches out to Sanborn though their perspective on life is vastly divergent.
Written by journalist Mark Boal who had spent time with a bomb disposal unit, The Hurt Locker lacks a coherent narrative but its strength lies in the experience not in the story. While the film does not offer a political commentary on the War in Iraq, it more than brings home the insanity of all wars. No sequence in any recent war film is more horrifying than the scene in which James has two minutes to dismantle a time bomb strapped to an Iraqi suicide bomber. While the would-be bomber pleads that he is a family man, James races against the clock but even his normally cool demeanor gives way to a chilling desperation, an experience increasingly felt by everyone in the theater.