They are two ambitious, original and thoughtful works that avoid the easy pitfalls of being either a patriotic military advertisement or a virulent anti-war manifesto.
It is unlcear to me why the abomination of war - even "good" wars, let alone our ongoing war crime in Iraq - is undeserving of manifestos against it. Even "virulent" ones. posted by Joe Beese at 3:09 PM on March 9, 2010 [3 favorites]
It is unlcear to me why the abomination of war - even "good" wars, let alone our ongoing war crime in Iraq - is undeserving of manifestos against it. Even "virulent" ones.
It's not that it's undeserving. It's that manifestos usually make for bad movies. posted by Rangeboy at 3:17 PM on March 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
So, what's the verdict on The Hurt Locker these days? Is it a conservative masterpiece, or a liberal abomination how that some veterans have criticized the movie for it's lack of realism?
Lack of realism is an odd thing to hear about war movies. I think back on all the WWII movies I saw as a kid on TV. Seems like there were a million of them. But even the highly regarded classics struck me as often kind of corny even back when I was a kid. Did The Greatest Generation get all snippy about the war pictures produced back then? Or are modern vets hyper sensitive about their portrayal on film? posted by 2N2222 at 4:39 PM on March 9, 2010
The Hurt Locker starts strong, but for all its implied gravity, at the end of the day it's really just an action movie. The main conceit, that war is like a drug and that the main character has been somehow broken by it, choosing to continue to endanger himself rather than live comfortably with his wife and child, is fine but not very deeply explored. It's a film about tension and big explosions and adrenaline. As others have said, 15 years ago this would've been a mainstream action flick, not an art-house movie.
It's not that the film lacks realism per se, it's that it strains credibility at points, with the main characters running crazy three-man search/attack missions down narrow alleys in the dark with no support or backup. The psychologist character bothered me, in particular; portrayed as a one-dimensional, skittish desk jockey, his ride-along with the soldiers ends predictably.
The Hurt Locker could have easily been set during the Persian Gulf War, or Vietnam, or Korea, without significantly altering the story. It really isn't a movie about the Iraq War at all. posted by mpbx at 5:00 PM on March 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
Agreed that The Hurt Locker isn't about the Iraq War at all. Instead, it's about a single man who finds the one thing he's meant to do in war. It's an old story, but an important one. What brought the film home to me wasn't the directing or the screenplay (both were excellent pieces of journeymanship, and, yes, action-movie-esque and factually-suspect, respectively) but Jeremy Renner's performance, which I felt was absolutely perfect. posted by Football Bat at 5:13 PM on March 9, 2010
To say that The Hurt Locker isn't about the Iraq conflict is to deny that the use of IEDs has been significantly higher there than it has in any previous conflict.
I cannot understand how someone can say that this movie would essentially be the same if it took place in Korea. Really? What was the life of an EOD soldier like in Korea? posted by Dagobert at 10:28 PM on March 9, 2010
What was the life of an EOD soldier like in Korea?
There wouldn't have been IEDs but that is pretty incidental detail, isn't it? The Hurt Locker is about the drama of bomb disposal and the way it affects people psychologically. Both of those are constants throughout modern warfare.
It's that manifestos usually make for bad movies.
Maybe but I find it hard to believe that any films are actually virulent anti-war manifestos rather than just virulently anti-war (and I don't know too many of those). Malmstrom doesn't give any examples either. posted by ninebelow at 3:17 AM on March 10, 2010
The psychologist character bothered me, in particular; portrayed as a one-dimensional, skittish desk jockey, his ride-along with the soldiers ends predictably.
god yeah. That was so clownishly predictable.
The SAS being complete losers compared with the awesome sniper-fighting skills of US Army bomb disposal teams was a bit WTF as well. posted by Artw at 9:16 AM on March 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
It is unlcear to me why the abomination of war - even "good" wars, let alone our ongoing war crime in Iraq - is undeserving of manifestos against it. Even "virulent" ones.
posted by Joe Beese at 3:09 PM on March 9, 2010 [3 favorites]