A wake-up call, but.......

Rating: 7/10 (12 March 2010)

We go on patrols with an EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team looking for bombs like IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices), and dismantling them.
This movie won for Best Picture at the Oscars as well as for Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow) and I have seen all the raves and wonder why. Yes, it is a good movie. Best Picture? No. It is a wake up call showing us how things were done in Iraq in the early days of the war.
How things were donewell, the movie shows Sgt James (Renner) in full cowboy mode and I am sure things weren't done the way he performed. In real life, he probably would have been court-martialed for his behavior, wreckless at times. And, that tells me that there was no military consultant to guide the story. There was one instance when Sgt James went out on his own, at night, looking for the suicide bomber that came close to the Green Zone (considered the safest place). This just doesn't happen. But, the Director knew we also wanted to be entertained and we were. Just take a look back, was it really this way?
This is not to take anything away from the brave men and women risking their lives in both Iraq and Afghanistan, but the feeling I have is not all the truth was told here. We know our military are not cowboys doing cowboy things while lives, including theirs, are at stake. I suppose if we didn't see Sgt James act the way he did, we would be looking at a documentary only. Good-bye Oscars (well, maybe for a documentary)
Now, if you wanted to say that Sgt James was a real person and this is his story, and this is how he acted, then fine, we're good with it.
In the beginning it is said War is a drug and for Sgt James it was. This was clear. But does the movie really want us to believe we have cowboys out there looking for another fix? We do know that many go back after their tours are completed, but not to become cowboys. To them war is a drug. But, is this movie saying we have a lot of Sgt James' out there? Seems like it.
Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Yes, some.