Gritty and Realistic

Rating: 6/10 (24 June 2009)

I got interested in this movie because of rave reviews I read in the Internet. It is a story of an American bomb disposal unit on tour of duty in Iraq. The film just follows their day to day activities and missions there. You see the squalor and violence of life in Iraq after the American occupation. You see the thanklessness and the uselessness of this war for the citizens of Iraq and the American troops stationed over there. You see everything as if it was real thing, as if this was a documentary. Everything was very gritty and realistic.
There were many suspenseful situations of bomb disposal. You do not know which ones will be successful and which one won't, leading to very intense moments. The soundtrack music and the rough camera work contribute immensely to the tension and drama. We the audience are transported there with the soldiers in Iraq, it seems to be.
The unknown lead actors contribute to the realism. They looked and acted like real soldiers. This is most specially true with Jeremy Renner (whom I have never seen before), who played the bomb specialist James with so much immersion you would think he is the real thing. I do not really know why they decided to interrupt the realism with occasional star cameos (from Ralph Fiennes and Evangeline Lilly).
I do not really know what a "hurt locker" is, and I still do not exactly. But I guess it means how the hurtful experiences of war will forever be locked into the very beings of the people caught up in it. A final surprise for me came at the end as I found out that this very macho film was assuredly directed by a woman, Kathryn Bigelow. Fans of war movies will definitely want to watch this film.