The Hurt Locker

The other day I went to see “The Hurt Locker“. Ā There was plenty of hype around this movie – 6 Oscars, 73 other award wins, and 47 nominations for more awards. Ā Not to mention that the director is Kathryn Bigelow, who is, among other things, an ex-wife of James Cameron. Ā (And as we know, in many cases, you are who you are married to, and if so, it’s extremely helpful in this case).

Anyways. Ā Obviously, with all that noise, I’ve heard quite a bit about the film, and I saw the trailer, and I had a slight idea on what it was and how it was. Ā I went prepared. Or so I thought…

The film turned out to be totally different from what I was expecting. Ā Actually, I think it turned out totally different from what anybody were expecting. Ā And that’s a good thing. Ā Surprise! Ā Somehow this film is very different from pretty much everything. Ā It has action, but it’s not an action. Ā It has drama, but it’s not a drama. Ā It’s supposedly has documentary, but it’s not documentary. Ā The storyline is very vague and doesn’t seem to stand out or lead anywhere, but on the other hand the film is rather long and I didn’t get tired of it at all. It’s very natural.

The way it works, I guess, is that this film is using atmosphere to tell the story, rather than dialogs, powerful music, and impressive shots. Ā As I said, at times you don’t really know where it goes and if it goes anywhere at all. Ā But yet somehow it all makes sense. Ā Also, one other thing that I really enjoyed, and which I thought was a cornerstone of this film is simplicity. Ā The whole situation in Iraq is not simple. Ā There are many sides to it and many points of views. Ā  But this film drops down to a very simplistic view of the whole picture from the eyes of a few American soldiers. Ā  There is no propaganda, there are no high-flying ideas. Ā It’s just that simple – a few guys at war. Ā  It’s not about why they are there. Ā It’s about them actually being there.

The film is not very entertaining, even though it has a few hilarious bits and quite a few action sequences. Ā It’s simple, and yet deep. Ā It doesn’t force ideas upon thee, but it does make you think. Ā And as I said, it’s different from most films I’ve seen, and yet very similar somehow.

Overall, I’ll give it a 4 out of 5, and I would highly recommend it.