The "SAW" of war movies

Rating: 7/10 (29 June 2009)

Please bear with me, when I say that this is the "SAW" of the anti war movie genre. It doesn't mean that "The Hurt Locker" has a lot of explicit violence (only some), but that it constantly attacks your nerves. There is almost no moment of peace in the entire two hour movie. Accordingly you leave the theatre exhausted or you just snap out of the story halfway through because it is just too much. At the showing that I just came home from a guy in the front row fell asleep and started snoring so loudly, the whole theatre could hear him. Two guys next to me left the cinema saying that they found the movie boring. I don't think it is boring. It's just relentless, never allowing the story to calm down now and then.
Mark Boal, the screenwriter, is a journalist who supposedly took a pretty neutral stance in his articles about the Iraq war. (This information was given to the audience by the guy who introduced the movie). Now, I find that a bit surprising, because "The Hurt Locker" isn't really that neutral in its outlook. Sure, it probably strives to be a realistic depiction of the constant physical and emotional pressure of being in the U.S. Army's bomb squad, but we only ever see the American side of things. The American soldiers, all of whom are the best of people with the best intentions - the lead character fulfilling the old John Wayne-cliché again (and having him "break down" once or twice doesn't change a thing about that). Whenever an Iraqi shows up, he's a terrorist or at least a threat. I am aware that this, too, is a reality for an American soldier, but STILL... for a depiction of reality, this movie relies too much on theatrical moments, some out-of-place one liners and clichés.
Still, "The Hurt Locker" is properly unsettling. It makes you feel the constant paranoia of being in the war zone. The cast is good (especially Jeremy Renner in the lead) and so is the score. Whereas the pictures and the pacing are "in your face" (quite literally actually, we mostly see the characters in extreme close-up, which adds to the tense atmosphere), the score is almost play-like. That makes for a nice contrast. If the action on screen is about the here and now, the apocalyptic score transmutes certain moments into scenes that show the eternal madness of man killing his own.
Those are the moments when "The Hurt Locker" works best. However, it hurts the movie that we're only shown the American side of things. We only see the American soldiers who try their best, but are broken by the war. That may be one aspect of this horrible situation, but it's either blue-eyed or ignorant to make this the only point of your film.