More Iraq War than I ever want to see.

Rating: 9/10 (12 March 2010)

I found this to be a very disturbing film because there were many references to the fact that some of the soldiers felt they should not be there and that it wasn't their war; the morale of the soldiers were at odds. I have no interest in the debacle of the Bush/Cheney war fostered on the American people so the question is legitimately asked, Why then did you go? The film, if it did not explore, at least it approached these questions. I found The Hurt Locker to be a memorable film in that there were scenes that will last a long time in the recesses of my poor mind; even now, some days after we attended, I can still see some of the hard scenes that composed much of the film. The ending where the explosives soldier knew that he had to return to Iraq, not because of patriotism but simply that his dangerous bomb disposal work had turned him into a danger junkie, like people that participate in dangerous sports. As I wrote at the beginning of this comment, "a very disturbing film". The Hurt Locker was an interestingly constructed film in that it was composed of pieces with, to me, little holding those pieces together. I saw numbingly dangerous incidents with little connective tissue; the film was very episodic, with those episodes of danger the substance of the film. I guess I ultimately found that manner of film making disturbing in that I wanted to see more of a film constructed like An Education, also up for Best Picture. But I did not make the film and I get mad at commentators who criticize a film because the film is not the way they think that it should have been made. The Hurt Locker throws light on an aspect of war that few of us would consider and yet, arguably, hidden bombs are the devices that cause the most hurt to western forces in Iraq and we, the observers, know little about this terrible aspect of modern warfare.