Now I know what this fuss was all about and why “The Hurt Locker” won all these Oscars. Simply, the movie is stunning from the very beginning to the very end.
There are two strong themes in the movie: courage and war addiction.
The protagonist of this film, Staff Sgt. William James appears to be enjoying the horrors that accompany his bomb-defusing job in war-torn Iraq. He is courageous and seems to be fond of what he does even though he knows he might die in any moment as he defuses bombs.
This kind of addiction does not stop there. It follows him home. What soldiers, citizens and reporters go through in a war zone change everything in their lives, something that was strongly portrayed in the film. Back in the U.S., James’ wife appears to be indifferent about the horrors he saw in Iraq. This is a major problem many armed forces members and reporters face after they leave the war zone for home. It becomes too normal for them to live there and that’s why I think many of them return back to the war zone or go somewhere disturbed by conflict to relate to. Others get divorced!
From an Iraqi citizen’s perspective, I think the film was believable. Director Kathryn Bigelow and the rest of the cast did a wonderful job in portraying how Baghdad looked like during the war. To me, the setting was very similar to that of 2006-Baghdad. Empty streets, trash everywhere, fear in the eyes of everyone, distrust everywhere, broken glass and insurgents running freely in the streets of Baghdad. What made the film even more authentic is the Iraqi actors who speak Iraqi Arabic.
The film is by all means a great portrayal of how war looks like. It invites people to think twice before uttering stupid words in front of those who witness war, like my grad school classmate who told me that he cat was “traumatized” back in 2006 when just a few weeks before that I had seen dead bodies in the streets of Baghdad. It invites people to endure hardships that might be nothing if compared to what others do in war zones.