The Hurt Locker

I have to admit I haven't been watching too many of the movies in the Women Make Film series on TCM, mostly because I don't have much room on my DVR to record them. Some months back during one of the free preview weekends, I had the chance to record The Hurt Locker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow. She's one of the directors in the TCM spotlight, and The Hurt Locker will be on overnight tonight at 12:30 AM, which is still late in the evening in more westerly time zones.

The US Army's Bravo Company is stationed in Baghdad in 2004 in the aftermath of the second Gulf War. Those who opposed the removal of Saddam Hussein have been reduced to a campaign of random targeted bombings, and Bravo Company is one of the units tasked with disposing the bombs. There's another bomb in the middle of a street, and Bravo Company has sent a team of three men, scheduled to be rotated out of Iraq in five weeks' time, to the scene: Sgt. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) is the leader; Specialist Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) is Sanborn's backup; and Sgt. Thompson (Guy Pearce) is the guy who actually does the dirty work of making certain the bombs can be detonated safely by reducing the blast radius or even defusing the bombs.

Unfortunately, some of the bombs are remote controlled, with Iraqis having come up with a rudimentary detonator powered by cellular phone, so Sanborn and Eldridge are always on the lookout for anybody in the area who might have a cell phone that they could use to detonate the bomb. Indeed, the current bomb has just such a detonator. But they spot the man with the cell phone too late, and he's able to detonate the bomb, killing Thompson, who isn't able to get far enough away.

Sanborn is matter-of-fact and tries to be logical, for the most part, since keeping your wits about you is one way to improve your chances of getting out of a war zone like Baghdad alife. Eldrige, on the other hand, is shaken up by what happened, feeling as though he should have been able to stop the Iraqi guy from detonating the bomb. It's also fairly evidently not the first emotionally difficult situation Eldridge has faced in Iraq, as he's been seeing the base's psychologist, Col. Cambridge (Christian Camargo) to deal with things.

In any case, Bravo Company needs a new bomb disposal man. The Army sends them SSgt. William James (Jeremy Renner). James is completely different in terms of personality than either Sanborn or Eldridge, and presumably different from Thompson although we never get to know Thompson's personality since he's killed off in the opening scene. James reminds me of George C. Scott's Patton (since I just blogged about that a few days ago), sure of himself and usually right, although he doesn't do things by the book. For a World War II general that might be a political problem in dealing with the other generals. But for a bomb disposal man it's potentially fatal, and it's extremely understandable why Sanborn would constantly be butting heads with James. For James, however, it seems to be his way of dealing with the stress of bomb zones.

Much of The Hurt Locker then becomes more of a character study as there are scenes of some action but much more suspense as there are the various bomb scenes to detonate. But there's also the grim reality of everyday life back at the compound as the bombs punctuate this at irregular intervals. The three men try to form a coherent team together, although it's not always easy because of the constant tension between James and Sanborn on the one hand, and Eldridge's often being near the breaking point on the other.

I've blogged about several movies that were more character studies than plot-driven movies before. But The Hurt Locker is different from the others in that being a character study works greatly to the movie's benefit, as each of the three main characters has a dramatically different personality, and (mis)handles the stress in very different ways, all three actors giving fine performances.

Since The Hurt Locker is being shown on TCM as part of a spotlight on directors, I have to say I felt the direction was mostly unobtrusive (a good thing), with one minor irritant. Some of the explosions are done in slow motion, which I can understand as an artistic device to express the sense of time moving more slowly in such a situation, like the way people talk about one's life passing before one's eyes. But still, each time it was done it felt to me like a trite, overused technique.

I can definitely recommend The Hurt Locker. It's also available on DVD should you miss the TCM showing.