The Hurt Locker - why it left me thinking for days
Having no experience of war, I am not even attempting to critic the truth of the subject material presented in The Hurt Locker. I go to movies to experience them as movies, not as factual documentaries, so my comments are based solely on the material and characters of the movie. I was unprepared to be so blown open by The Hurt Locker, left thinking about it for days..still thinking about it now. I remember at one point during the movie realising that I had slipped down into my seat, contracted into myself. Apart from one scene, it wasn’t a visually violent movie. But the tension was unrelenting. Yet The Hurt Locker wasn’t exhausting or draining. Why? There was a complexity to the characters that made me ask questions. “Why did he do this? How did he sustain himself? What was he thinking? Was he an idiot or smart? Did he have a death wish or had he reached a place in life where he knew no fear because death had been his companion for so long?” The movie left me with more questions about the main character William James, than I had answers for. And rather than leaving me depressed, the main characters were all likable. They were good men, with good hearts, dealing with really horrible life conditions in a way that was deeply human and complex. They brought all the light and dark of good men trying to find their way in a situation that they would have never dreamed of as being something they wanted to do when they grew up. Played by Jeremy Renner, an actor I had not seen before, William James was mesmerizing from the moment he walked into his first scene. A Very Brief Synopsis of The Hurt Locker Three guys, Sanborn, Eldrige and James, were bomb disposal specialist. Their job was to disarm road side bombs, also known as IED’s (improvised explosive devises) and to do so while surrounded by Iraqi’s watching from balconies and doorways...never knowing if the watcher’s were the very people who had created the IED. They faced death in the extreme, every day, day in day out. From the bombs themselves, from the people around them, from each other, from the unforeseen. How do people cope with this kind of endless fear? This is what made this movie so extraordinary. It wasn’t so much about the war, but about the response of these three very different characters when put daily under the threat of death. James appeared to not care about his life at all. He took risks that appeared idiotic. (I believe the writers of The Hurt Locker tried to convey that while snubbing some of the rule book procedures on how to do his job, James’s choices were based on extensive experience, probably more so than the writer of the rule book. And then there was that “x” factor that made him appear to walk on the path of angels, divinely protected.) At the same time he was thoughtful and caring. In his work he was obsessive. He collected the signature triggers of every bomb he disarmed. A strange trophy cabinet kept in a box under his bed, not of conquest, but of how he had beaten death once again by getting into the head of the bomb maker. It was as if he had come to terms with his own death so completely that he lived in that mythic zone that rendered him safe. In the end we are left wondering of he is so addicted to the adrenalin rush of his work that he cannot help himself. The addict waiting for the next hit? The one “truth” he knew how to do? His work in the world? Some form of certainty that this is what he was born to do? Why did The Hurt Locker affect me so much? Few of us really get to face our own immortality so constantly. Death in our modern world is this place that we do not talk about. Age is seen as a bad thing. We cling to the eternally young and youth. We fear our ending. In my life I have had to deal with early endings and the subject of death. The love of my life, Joseph, suffered from bipolar disease. Each day for him was a question of live or die. I don’t know how or why I had some inborn ability to speak with him about life and death without disappearing into my own fear and ignorance. Out of nowhere I seemed to have a particular wisdom when it came to the subject of death. Through the several years I spent in relationship with Joseph I looked at the question of death. When is it the right time to die? Who says we have to live to an old age? Why do we cling to life, or force our loved ones to cling to their life? Why are we often kinder to animals and help them end their suffering in a way that brings dignity to their lives? Who says we have to choose life? Is it only our fear of the unknown that comes with death? Do we stop others from dying when that is their wish because of our selfish fear? And why, oh why, in our ‘advanced’ society, do we so fear the very subject of death that it is seldom talked about? Death is to birth as up is to down. Yet we keep the death side of birth in a padlocked room in the attic. My little dog, Muffin, now 13 years old, is approaching that point in her life. She has good days and bad days. She suffers dementia, amongst other things. Earlier this week I spoke with her Naturopathic Vet about the immanence of her death. How will I know? Donna said that she will tell me through the look in her eyes. One day her look will be different and I will know. While it will still be very sad for me and my daughter, anything less than honouring Muffin’s choice would be cruel. (How lucky are we to have a wise and caring vet?) Fear was ever present in The Hurt Locker. Why did James walk so confidently into fear every time? It was obvious that he was concerned for others and their safety. He has a softness and compassion that was evident. Yet in regards to his own safety, he was completely detached. And that may be what made his so interesting. There was such a absence of fear, such a high level of detachment to his own fate, that other characters, even despite their initial shock at his cavalier approach, found him compelling. Even though he had disarmed over 800 bombs in his career, this will still not make someone immune to the fear unless they had reached some place of either fear transcendence, or total separation of self, or some altered state. Apart from the compelling presentation of the complexities of the three central characters, The Hurt Locker also depicted the tragedies and horrors of war. Of people being so consumed with hate and fear and various ideologies that life is so expendable. However, it could have been any war in our current time, as there was no reference to any particular ideology, and no claims to right or wrong of one side or another. This made The Hurt Locker more of a study about our responses to extreme fear and danger. It is relevant to Positive Deviants because an essential piece of our evolution as humans in Universe is to sit with the question of death, while in our youth (or middle age), and find a place that integrates the whole of life, including death. While I loved Avatar for its brilliance in design and imagery, and for bringing a story that is currently being enacted around our planet, I hope The Hurt Locker wins the Oscar. I want my movies to leave their fingerprints on my soul, to force me to ask questions about myself and my life that I would otherwise have not considered. How did this movie affect you? What was your experience?
You may not agree with my review of The Hurt Locker? Or you may have comments and additions to add to what I have said? To Return from The Hurt Locker to Sense Making
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