1. Opening Remarks
The Hurt Locker is a pseudo-documentary about one soldier and his addiction to war/his affiliation of bombs. It follows an EOD squad and exhibits soldier life in a time of war. It essentially tries to convey to the audience a certain message that connects these ordinary people to the soldiers out there fighting the war that is currently happening at the moment in Iraq, where the movie is set in.
2. This movie was written in 2004 and released in 2007. It was written by Mark Boal, a freelance writer who was a journalist in Iraq. The screenplay was based on his experiences with the war in Iraq that is still happening even now, and was created to show the people what it's like to be a EOD soldier in Iraq. Boal uses what he knows and experience to relay what he's seen out there, and how hard these war-filled lives are. The movie was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, an experienced historical movie director. The way she manipulates the shots, angles, and even time, creates this masterpiece of war-times.
3. There's not much to say about the costumes. It's a war movie about soldiers and a Bomb
specialist, so the movie pertains to Bomb suits, soldier uniforms,
and sticking to them, to relay the realism involved in the movie. The actors are really good, and stay in character. They are able to relay the vast spectrum of emotions involved in warfare really well with their expressions, body language, and through the usage of their dialogue.
4. I found the cinematography of the film most riveting and very innovative. What brings the audience in to the realism of the film is the hand held shots. Its documentary style renders the audience to believe that everything is real, and that a cameraman is simply following the EOD soldiers in their journey at war.
Other aspects that pull the audience in are the extreme close ups and zooms, and the varying angle shots. Sometimes, to exemplify
the meaning of a soldiers words, or lack-thereof, other times to exemplify their actions.Lighting is mostly set a harsh sun tone on the characters because they are essentially in a desert where the sun hits harshly on the people because of the lack of clouds. Because of the harshness of the light, really dark shadows are created as shown in the screenshot to the left. The color schemes are mainly a muddy yellow, brown, and
earthy colors associated with war. I also found it interesting that the director decided to shot from the perspectives of the "enemy side" as well. For example, there is a scene where enemy snipers surprise attack the EOD squad and sometimes a shot of the enemy sniper's side would cut in, like in the screen shot here, to the right, where we see the sniper take a shot at the EOD squad.
5. An interesting scene that displays manipulation of time and speed is in the beginning when Thompson dies in the explosion.In that scene we see the explosion at least twice, Thompson being pushed off the ground due to the massive pressure of the explosion multiple times in various
angles, and the entire scene is slow-motioned.
There are even some close ups of the different objects surrounding the area (such as the rust on the shell of a car, the rocks on the ground, etc) cut into the scene to show fully how the explosion effected the area, because though the audience can see the explosion, they don't truly relate to how massive the impact of a bomb is until they see how the ground shakes, the rust jumps, Thompson is pushed,
and really how significant this blast is, because it essentially kills Thompson, the squad leader that Sanborne and Eldridge (the other members of the squad) really admired. The movie overall, however, stays constant in semi-long shots of varying distances, sometimes cutting between each other really fast to epitomize the action sequences. There were also some dynamic shots when James went back home away from the war.
6. There's not much to say about the sound. There's the regular bomb explosions, bullet shots, screams and creaks and noises for war-time fun, and the music is generally matching the mood of the shot. There were even some scenes that lacked music to exemplify the seriousness of the scene. Other than that, there's not much to say.
7. This movie is more character driven, following the internal conflict of William James, a bomb
specialist, and other characters in an EOD squad in order to
exemplify not only James' journey to self-fulfillment, but also the journey of a soldier at war in general. James portrays the guy who doesn't take shit from anyone, and can only think about one thing. Throughout the movie he shows the emotional conflict inside him when he struggles to find the balance between loving everything or just loving what he does. His ultimate decision is to love just what he does, concluding the conflict within him. Eldrige is the
most "human" of the squad, the "little brother" that doesn't stick out, but plays a meaningful role. One of his most important scenes is when he's talking to "Doc", and tells him about the turmoil of his mind, thinking that he was at fault for Thompson's death because he was fighting with himself about whether or not to shoot the guy
with the cell phone. Sanborne is sort of the tough guy, always have to be in charge and by the protocol, the guy whose there because the rules say so. He portrays himself well through his sudden outbursts and his short temper. He displays the emotional breakdown well, really epitomizing the fall of a tragic hero as he almost breaks down
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| James' blatant uprising |
crying in his confusion when talking to James. They are all characterized through their dialogue and actions. For example, Eldridge is the quietest and complies to both Sanborne and James when in action. Sanborne is the squad leader and is the only one that stands up against the headstrong
James. James goes at his own pace and does whatever he likes. Though they each have differences between each other, in the army you must trust your comrade, so an air of familiarity and trust is in their dialogue. They even hang out with each other drunk to even further show how close they are despite being stuck with each other randomly.
8. I feel like this movie is pseudo-documentary made for the secondary purpose of propaganda. What makes it a pseudo-documentary is mainly the camera-work. The majority of the film was shot hand held, making the shot a bit shaky. This creates the effect that the camera man is simply following the soldiers, making the audience feel like nothing is staged, and that what's happening in the movie is real, when it really isn't (hence, pseudo). This movie is also a war movie, as it
follows an EOD squad in Iraq, highlighting the life of a soldier in war. The reason I feel that this movie was made for the purpose of propaganda (secondary to the purpose of conveying to the public what soldiers do and have to deal with in war) is because it highlights the aspect that the addiction of war can't be helped and is a good thing. It essentially encourages people to go to war because it's exciting and thrilling, and something that people become addicted to and can't get away from despite it's mental and physical stress. It even conveys the message that once one accepts the fact that war is something you love, that mental stress goes away and gives you happiness. In a sense, this movie is a pseudo-war documentary, but is subverted into a movie of propaganda because of the message it conveys: to encourage people to join the army.
9.Overall it was a good, inspirational movie that really showed me how life in the army is, and what these bomb specialists have to go through almost everyday.
