I would put a picture of the movie poster up but I can’t find any in the format I need so alas you’re just going to have to use your imagination on this one. A couple of weeks ago Jon and I went to see The Hurt Locker with some friends. We’re beginning our quest to see as many potential Oscar nominees as possible before March 7th. I first heard about this movie back in September, when I read a review about it on the site Chocking on Popcorn. I immediately added it to our Netflix queue. Then it started getting Oscar buzz and it seems like everyone is talking about it. We found that it was still playing at a tiny little theater in NYC, Quad Cinema, and decided to go see it in the theater.
The movie follows a 3-man explosives unit on the last 39 days of their tour of duty. It mostly covers them neutralizing various bombs and situations, but there are some side stories as well. I have to say that I feel this is a movie that every American should see. I think that being reminded of the men and women who are over there fighting this war and what any given day for them might be like is important for everyone to do regardless of their views on the current war. I was in that theater for a little over 2 hours and I was so stressed out by all of the various situations that it wasn’t until the movie was over that I felt my entire body relax. Now, I am aware, that while this movie may seem realistic, that it isn’t an absolute reflection of what life is like but I did think that there were some important take aways.
1 – The movie gives you a better understanding of the psychological toll one might suffer from putting one’s life at risk every day.
2 – That it’s unclear at times who the enemy is.
3 – Soldiers sometimes have split sections to make life-altering decisions.
One of the things I loved about this movie was that the cast was made up of relatively unknown actors. In certain cases, I feel that makes for a better movie, and this was one of those cases. (Sidenote here: an example of a movie where this should have been the case was Valkyrie. It should have been unknown actors and it should have been a foreign movie. Then it would have been fantastic!) I also liked that it was shot more documentary style. That combined with the actors not being major names gave this movie a realistic feel.
I feel weird saying this movie was amazing or great because of the subject matter, it’s not something to be taken lightly. But like I said earlier, I do think it’s a movie that every American should see, just to be reminded. Perspective is a good thing. Also, in case you would like another review, my friend Ashley recently saw it as well.
Post in Comments:
Have you seen the Hurt Locker? What were your thoughts?
Loren and I watched it this past weekend. We both liked it but didn’t love it or quite understand why it had 97% rating on Rottentomatoes. I agree with your recommendation on seeing it though