The Hurt Locker Is the Greatest War Film Ever Made
Director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal crafted a different kind of war movie that has no equal even to this day
It’s often said that the best war films are antiwar films. Putting humanity at the forefront of the story by telling an honest depiction of the brutality of war, without ever glorifying or romanticizing the violence shown in the movie, is key to making such a film. If you paint a realistic picture of what that experience is like, you are bound to produce a very human movie that has an ultimately antiwar message. The war film genre is very saturated with just about every take on war you could think of. What makes The Hurt Locker different and ingenious is how much the film comes off as antiwar, while having a protagonist who’s only love in life is war itself, and Bigelow’s ability to focus on the little details that make you feel as close to the war as possible without leaving the theater.
The story takes place in 2004 during the Iraq War as we follow a bomb disposal unit lead by Sgt. William James (Jeremy Renner) with Sgt. JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Spc. Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) in company. The team investigates and disposes of explosives that could do harm to themselves and their allies in the area. Sgt. James is a bit of a…
