The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker, American war movie, released in 2008, that is set in the second year of the Iraq War and won six Academy Awards, including for best picture, and six BAFTA Awards, also including for best film. The movie’s vivid immersive realism and its attunement to the psychological effects of war made it a critical favorite.

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Plot summary

As the movie begins, members of an American explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) team in Baghdad are using a robot drone to investigate an improvised explosive device (IED). Having identified the bomb, the unit decides to detonate it remotely by attaching a wagon containing a detonator to the drone. As Sgt. Sanborn (played by Anthony Mackie) maneuvers the drone toward the bomb, however, a wheel on the wagon falls off. Sgt. Thompson (Guy Pearce), the team leader, dons a bomb suit and approaches the bomb. He picks up the wagon containing the detonator and places it correctly on the IED and then heads back. Specialist Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) spots a man with a cell phone inside a butcher shop on the street. He yells at the man to drop the phone, but the man succeeds in detonating the bomb before Thompson has made it a safe distance away, and Thompson is killed. Staff Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner) arrives to replace Thompson.

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The next day the EOD team responds to another report of a possible IED. Sgt. James prefers not to use the drone and puts on the bomb suit, setting off a smoke grenade as he goes. He spots a bomb and disarms it but then notices a wire attached to the bomb. He follows the wire, pulls up six more bombs, and disarms them. Sanborn is irritated with James for failing to follow protocol. When they return to the barracks, Eldridge talks with a counselor, Col. Cambridge (Christian Camargo). The following morning, James buys a DVD from a young Iraqi boy who calls himself Beckham (Christopher Sayegh).

Later the team is called to the site of a possible car bomb. As James, in the bomb suit, approaches the car, a sniper shoots the vehicle, and it bursts into flames. James finds that the car trunk is filled with explosives. He removes the bomb suit and undertakes a lengthy search for the triggering device. Sanborn and Eldridge feel increasingly endangered and repeatedly order James to leave, but James ignores them. When he returns to the EOD team’s vehicle, Sanborn hits him. Back at the base, James and Beckham kick a soccer ball around, and James buys another DVD.

Several days later, as the team is detonating explosives, Sanborn and Eldridge discuss their fear that James is so reckless that he will get them killed. On their return, they encounter a group of armed men and a stopped SUV. The men prove to be British mercenaries transporting two Iraqi prisoners, and their vehicle has a flat tire. The EOD team stops to help, but the group comes under attack, and several of the mercenaries, including the British leader (Ralph Fiennes), are killed before the EOD team members spot and kill the attackers.

A week later the team is sent to pick up some unexploded ordnance, and Cambridge joins them. The team goes into a building and discovers the corpse of a young boy that has been filled with explosives. James believes that the boy is Beckham. Though the team initially plans to blow up the building, James has a change of heart and removes the bomb from the child’s body and carries it outside. In the meantime, a growing group of Iraqi men come to talk with Cambridge, and they plant a bomb that explodes and kills him.

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When the group returns to quarters, James engages in a fruitless quest to learn whether Beckham is still alive. Later the EOD team is sent to the scene of a tank explosion to find the cause of the blast. James determines that the tank was detonated remotely, and the team splits up to search for the bomber. During the search, Eldridge is captured. Sanborn and James pursue, and in the ensuing firefight James accidentally shoots Eldridge in the leg.

The following morning, Beckham appears at the encampment, but James ignores him. Eldridge is shipped out, furious at James for having shot him. James and Sanborn are sent to deal with a situation in which an Iraqi man has had explosives locked onto his body. James attempts to cut the bomb off of him, but it is on a timer, and he does not have enough time before the bomb explodes, and he has to leave the man to his fate.

The team’s rotation ends, and James is sent back to his family. He finds that he is no longer suited for domestic life, however, and he chooses to return to Iraq for another tour of duty.

Filming and reception

The Hurt Locker was written by journalist Mark Boal and drew on his experiences while embedded with a bomb squad in Iraq. Director Kathryn Bigelow shot the film on location in Jordan, near the border with Iraq, and she used lesser known actors to increase the sense of realism. She became the first female director to win an Academy Award for directing as well as the first woman to direct a movie that took the Oscar for best picture. While film critics almost universally praised the movie, many war veterans said that James’s actions would never be tolerated in a real-life situation. The Hurt Locker opened at the Venice Film Festival in 2008 but did not go into general release until 2009.