Read this fine Washington Post review of "The Hurt Locker," a stunning film about our military's challenge in Iraq.
"The Hurt Locker" (2009), opened July 26 in NYC & LA; a second wave of roll-outs came July 10, to Washington DC and other major cities.. "Hurt Locker" is military-speak for where wounded are taken. It is a gritty, realistic tribute to an Army bomb squad working in Iraq--desperately dangerous and essential to quelling the insurgency. A regular LFTC reader attended the film with me yesterday, and perfectly captured its essence: it is more documentary than story.
But what a documentary! Searing, with one 5-minute scene not for the faint of heart, the film educates us vicariously--to the degree that a film can--as to just how dangerous and wearing our military's mission in Iraq has been. Counter-insurgency confronts soldiers daily with ambiguous situations where misjudgments can either lead to injury or death for soldiers, civilians or the bad guys (or all three). The insurgents are stupefyingly brutal. An outside power has two routes to victory: (1) extreme mass brutality, as the Nazis or Soviets or many Arab regimes or non-Arab Iran or North Korea would have done; or (2) winning local hearts & minds by putting protection of innocent civilian life first--even at the cost of higher force casualties and even if the beneficiaries are not notably grateful (or are, but are afraid to show it). America, and its soldiers, have nobly chosen the latter--at great cost to our soldiers' lives, that they willingly, heroically accept.
Here is the film's official website. The Video tab offers a trailer; the theaters tab gives the schedule. Above all, LFTC readers, see this film.
Comments