November 10, 2009 -- In “Patton,” the legendary George C. Scott, playing General George S. Patton, says of war, “God help me, I do love it so.” But Patton's strength was in strategy. In “The Hurt Locker,” Staff Sergeant William James (played with feeling by Jeremy Renner of “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”) is in dangerous life-or-death situations every day, disarming bombs designed to kill Americans in the Iraq War. Instead of being worn down by fear, James feeds off the adrenalin rush of all these near-death encounters with bombs and bullets. It is not because he has nothing to lose. He has a wife and child back home in America, but that is not what keeps him going.

This is not just a character study. This film has battle scenes of such immediacy, intensity and suspense it puts the battle scenes in most other war movies to shame, including “Patton.” The film explores what it feels like for a stranger in a strange land, trying to make sense of the Iraqi culture and a war that seems to have no goal. James himself is unable to understand these people or this war, or even why disarming bombs seems to be the only thing that gives his life meaning. Unlike Patton, he struggles to find the words to describe his feelings about war and his role in it. At the beginning of the film, we see the bomb disposal unit in action, and its leader killed when he reluctantly tries to set explosive charges to destroy an IED (improvised explosive device set by insurgents) after a robotic device fails to work.

James comes in as the new leader of the unit and that's the last we see of the robot. James is more of a hands-on kind of guy. He seems fearless as he disarms bomb after bomb, often using nothing more than simple wire cutters. His team members, Sgt. J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie of “We Are Marshall”) and Specialist Owen Eldrige (Brian Geraghty of “We Are Marshall”) are afraid that James' daring stunts will put the entire team in danger, not just James. At one point, Sanborn seriously considers killing James to remove what he sees as a threat to his own survival. Later, Sanborn comes to understand James a little better.

There is an extended sequence in the movie which explores James' psychology. He befriends a young Iraqi boy who calls himself Beckham (Christopher Sayegh), after the famous soccer player. When James discovers Beckham's body, which is being used by insurgents to house IED explosives, he seems to snap. He risks his life to save the boy's body for burial, then goes off on a risky mission to find who killed the boy. For the first time we see James break down emotionally. For the first time he seems to be more than just a thrill seeker. There are other hints about his humanity. He seems more reluctant than most to endanger civilians. He even admires the ingenuity of the insurgents who make the IEDs. He collects bomb parts for his own private collection.

For all the action and suspense in this movie, it is also a complex psychological study of the effects of combat, worthy of multiple viewings. At the same time it seems spare and straightforward. It carries no excess baggage and no dead weight. This is a remarkable achievement by veteran producer/director Kathryn Bigelow (“Strange Days”) and the film should be considered a favorite to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. It is one of the best films of 2009. This film rates an A.

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Copyright © 2009 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
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