The Hurt Locker

Watching this movie was an intense experience, but the Oscar raised my expectations, so I was a little disappointed at first when it ended.  I was expecting some life-altering or deep-seeming theme, I guess.  Instead, the movie offers a multifaceted portrait of a fictional bomb disposal squad in Iraq.  The main character is well-defined, so that by the end of the movie I had a good sense that he and I are different people.  The other main characters, the two other men in the squad, function as foils -- they showcase the main character's qualities by reflection.  In contrast to his recklessness and fatalism, they offer vulnerability and rage, caution and loathing.  As audience members, we are invited not to love the main character, but to respect him.  We get to know him through his determination to figure out the puzzle of each bomb, regardless of very real and tragic consequences.  He makes mistakes, finds himself in precarious situations, but finds a way out, only to return again to the scene of the crime.  He is a compelling figure, not just because he is brave, but also because he puts others in harm's way.  It's in the nature of the conflict, especially in Iraq, that the cycle of violence is double-sided.  War truly does cut both ways, both for the victors and the victims.  In this film, the internal conflict that comes alongside physical conflict is as important as any other force in the era of "modern warfare."  The emotional lives of these warriors defines the movie, and the intensity of the film is the reason for its success.  The best compliment I can give it is that I continue to think about its themes, well after actually watching it.