Dancing Hotdogs

August 13th, 2009

An in-depth look into the turbulent lives of a Bomb Squad

By Jeff

Kathryn Bigelow’s first film in seven years (since 2002’s K-19: The Widowmaker ) is more of a sci-fi thriller in the vein of her ex-husband James Cameron’s 1986 masterpiece Aliens than just another heavy message Iraq War-themed movie – which is precisely why it is now being hailed a masterpiece itself by critics and audiences across the globe.

There’s no denying that this film isn’t uncomfortably intense, with scenes of our main characters struggling to defuse roadside bombs unfolding at such a realistic, dread-filled pace, that you can actually feel your heart in your throat and your stomach at your feet.

Of all the jobs one could have, defusing IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) in the heart of the Iraq war must be one of the most straining and yet strangely satisfactory (to be able to stop a bomb from exploding at any second is almost a God-like ability).

This combination of danger (a horrible death) and victory (a transcendent reaffirmation of life) is exactly why bomb-specialist William James (played astonishingly by Jeremy Renner, who’s appeared in many small movies over the last eight years but has never exuded intensity to this magnitude before) and his two fellow soldiers (solid support-beams Anthony Mackey and Brian Geraghty) are drawn to the job, and in James’ case, addicted to the chaos of what it entails.

Allowed to film in Jordan, under strict shooting schedules, The Hurt Locker feels simultaneously like a sci-fi thriller and a documentary. The sense of being an American solider dropped straight down into the dense midst of a city ravaged by a war you’ve created is all too real and yet also alien.

As our characters work the crime scene in their protective anti-explosive gear (which looks exactly like a space suit, complete with shielded helmet), trying to determine where the bomb is, how it’s fused, and how it can be detonated, everyone around them is a stranger, a suspect (especially those carrying cell phones…) and the result is like being on a barren desert planet surrounded by aliens lurking in the shadows, waiting for their opportunity to strike out at their heavy-in-firepower/small-in-numbers invaders.

After a particularly hot n’ hairy dismantling of about a dozen gas-tank sized bombs hibernating in a car trunk (enough C4 to engulf a full city block), specialist James returns calmly to his seat in the Humvee and lights up a cig, taking a few puffs, and proclaiming to no-one, “That was good”.

Amazingly, through the intimate direction of the scene, this seems like a perfectly nature human response to what he’s just gone through. This is the film’s strongest asset; it’s ability to make you sympathize with a character (Renner) that is openly obsessed with his highly suicidal job.

A title card in the beginning states the story takes place in the year 2004, which is both irrelevant and significant to the film. It could just as well be taking place right now, in 2009. A group of IED car bombs went off just this Monday in Mosul, killing 42 and wounding over 150. And that irrelevance (the fact we haven’t make any progress in all that time safe-guarding and re-building Iraq) is precisely why the film’s ultimate message is all the more significant.

If we are still fighting a losing battle after nearly seven years, what are we doing so wrong, and how in the hell are we going to fix things so we’re not still in the same situation come 2014?