The Hurt Locker - A Must watch

I first heard about this tiny movie called The Hurt Locker at the Golden Globes when James Cameron, while picking up his award for best director, doffed his cap at Kathryn Bigelow indicating that he thought she would win the coveted award (for those interested in trivia, Kathryn Bigelow was once briefly married to James Cameron in the late 80s - early 90s). Met up with a friend for lunch the following week and he raved about The Hurt Locker and lent us the DVD. I didn't know what to expect because I am not a huge fan of war movies and wasn't quite sure if I would like it that much. But boy was I surprised.

For the majority of us who've never had to fight in wars and stare death in the face, this movie is a hard-hitting look into the life of soldiers in Iraq. Amidst the chaos of war, how do these guys continue to function without snapping? How does a soldier retain his grip on sanity and switch back into normalcy as a husband and father when he goes home? The cast led by Jeremy Renner (SFC William James), does a phenomenal job of portraying the hardships of being out at war - it's a hard thing to do without going overboard. If this were a Bollywood movie, I can only cringe when I imagine how over the top it would have been. But luckily for us, it isn't. Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty portray Sgt. Sanborn and soldier Owen Eldridge remarkably well - the movie opens with the loss of their Sgt when he tries to diffuse a bomb. This leads to the addition of William James to their team. It turns out that he is a bit of a loose cannon prone to doing things his way. How do they tackle the enemy on enemy lands - how do they get up and go out there without knowing if they will come back at the end of the day - that forms the gist of the movie.

This movie made my heart go out to these anonymous soldiers who fight a war - many of them barely old enough to drink and yet old enough to go to battle. For those of you looking for a glossy feel-good movie, this is definitely not it but I highly recommend it, if nothing else, then just to empathize with the thousands of soldiers who have given up their lives and for the soldiers who are still out there fighting everyday. Another thing that struck me about the movie was the desolate look of Iraq - civilians who die in accidental or malicious cross-fire - when will they limp back to normalcy?