Hello, all! With only two days left to go in the month, a lot of good films set in the post-9/11 world will unfortunately have to be omitted… and some not so great ones, too. It’s interesting how some films set during or after [and many doing both, as was the case with the very good AMERICAN SNIPER as well as the less than great BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK] a certain theater of operations in the ongoing War on Terror connect with audiences… or don’t. It could be because of our historical proximity to the events that the more fictionalized accounts tend not to be received as well by audiences. Whatever the reason, today’s pick kind of set the tone for these films. While not based on a true story, per se, it certainly makes a concerted effort to represent the events of all things post-Mission Accomplished as authentically as a script written by someone who wasn’t there could be. While another film based on his journalistic endeavors [IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH] was a misfire, THE HURT LOCKER was not. Sometimes called “the PLATOON of the films set in the War on Terror,” you may see why by watching the trailer below:
Obviously, the fact that this film cleaned up at the Academy Awards doesn’t mean it’s a truly accurate representation of what happened [and still does happen] in the sandbox. Hollyweird will keep on doing what Hollyweird does, tho’, and it has a valid excuse to say that it’s making a movie and not a documentary whenever it ventures into a conflict still ongoing, with wounds still fresh from it. For example, veterans will doubtless cringe when they see an EOD team breaching buildings without any kind of troop support… it doesn’t need to be Rambo, but at least throw a few Cav Scouts out there. While the film doesn’t succeed in telling its story with absolute verisimilitude, it doesn’t exactly need to; it’s really using the three main characters as a sort of trinitarian amalgam of the post-9/11 American soldier. In a few ways, that’s an insult to the very figure the film is ostensibly trying to celebrate, particularly the continued insistence that “the American soldier” is some sort of modern-day Janus, concomitantly traumatized psychologically by the experience of combat as well as addicted to it. There’s obviously a lot of time that could be spent on such an idea, but the film tries to tell so many aspects of the same story that this particular avenue gets short shrift.
That isn’t to say that the story isn’t effective; it certainly has its moments, in particular the first nine or so minutes, which provide the catalyst for introducing the lead character, SSG William James [played with a certain mesmerizing recklessness by Jeremy Renner]. In this scene, the very real hazards faced by EOD folks are portrayed… if but, as you might have guessed, with a fair dose of Hollyweird injected to dramatize and sensationalize the action. The folks in Hollyweird seem to love scenes where the character on-screen has to figure out which wire to cut, from THE ABYSS to LETHAL WEAPON 3 to BLOWN AWAY, and so on. Here, however, the setting grants a certain immediacy to the action, and despite the aforementioned quibbles about accuracy, it does so to great cinematic effect. The plot is relatively simple, but it’s effectively told: bomb is found, EOD guys go out to disarm it… rinse, wash, repeat.
There are some good wrinkles to the formula, one involving a kid with whom SSG James develops a sort of avuncular rapport. Another involves a scene redolent of the collar bomb heist covered on Netflix’s EVIL GENIUS. Like a scene in which the characters are underwater, the audience is naturally inclined to hold its breath. Here, too, there are some “hold your breath” scenes, either because the film so effectively generates tension or because the idea of being blown to smithereens invariably causes the audience to be as still as possible. I suspect it’s a little bit of both, but I’ll favor the former in part because the director, Kathryn Bigelow [who won the Best Director Oscar that year over her ex-husband (James Cameron, nominated for AVATAR)], actually managed to get final cut. That’s practically unheard of, but it clearly worked out pretty well *and* reinforces the idea that her vision was a good representation of what the folks fighting the War on Terror face, even if it wasn’t a wholly faithful version thereof.
An awful lot of this film does work, from the tension it manages to create to the way it communicates squad dynamics when a replacement comes along who doesn’t gel with the team the way the former squadmate did. The film also at least tries to be faithful to the source material in other ways, such as having the lead actor actually lumber around in the bomb disposal outfit rather than having some double do the job for him. It may seem like some method actor kitsch, but why not do it? If a film can’t convey everything accurately [and this one doesn’t], it can at least convey more accurately than less. For that, I’d say THE HURT LOCKER deserved the accolades it received during awards season.
If you’re a little more interested in a slightly more honest representation of “what it’s like,” however, I’d recommend this little vignette from the documentary OPERATION HOMECOMING: WRITING THE WARTIME EXPERIENCE. Entitled “Men In Black,” it manages to achieve in a few minutes what THE HURT LOCKER spends almost two hours trying to accomplish. Enjoy… on both accounts!
Other films recommended:
[Day 1 - KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (Director's Cut); Day 2 - GLADIATOR; Day 3 - TROY; Day 4 - SPARTACUS; Day 5 - BRAVEHEART; Day 6 - MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD; Day 7 - GLORY; Day 8 - GODS AND GENERALS; Day 9 - GONE WITH THE WIND; Day 10 - CAPITAINE CONAN; Day 11 - ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT; Day 12 - GALLIPOLI; Day 13 - PATHS OF GLORY; Day 14 - SERGEANT YORK; Day 15 - DAS BOOT; Day 16 - SAVING PRIVATE RYAN; Day 17 - PATTON; Day 18 - CROSS OF IRON; Day 19 - SCHINDLER'S LIST; Day 20 - FURY; Day 21 - MASH; Day 22 - TAE GUK GI: THE BROTHERHOOD OF WAR; Day 23 - PLATOON; Day 24 - FULL METAL JACKET; Day 25 - GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM; Day 26 - WE WERE SOLDIERS; Day 27 - DR. STRANGELOVE; Day 28 - RED DAWN]
Obviously, the fact that this film cleaned up at the Academy Awards doesn’t mean it’s a truly accurate representation of what happened [and still does happen] in the sandbox. Hollyweird will keep on doing what Hollyweird does, tho’, and it has a valid excuse to say that it’s making a movie and not a documentary whenever it ventures into a conflict still ongoing, with wounds still fresh from it. For example, veterans will doubtless cringe when they see an EOD team breaching buildings without any kind of troop support… it doesn’t need to be Rambo, but at least throw a few Cav Scouts out there. While the film doesn’t succeed in telling its story with absolute verisimilitude, it doesn’t exactly need to; it’s really using the three main characters as a sort of trinitarian amalgam of the post-9/11 American soldier. In a few ways, that’s an insult to the very figure the film is ostensibly trying to celebrate, particularly the continued insistence that “the American soldier” is some sort of modern-day Janus, concomitantly traumatized psychologically by the experience of combat as well as addicted to it. There’s obviously a lot of time that could be spent on such an idea, but the film tries to tell so many aspects of the same story that this particular avenue gets short shrift.
That isn’t to say that the story isn’t effective; it certainly has its moments, in particular the first nine or so minutes, which provide the catalyst for introducing the lead character, SSG William James [played with a certain mesmerizing recklessness by Jeremy Renner]. In this scene, the very real hazards faced by EOD folks are portrayed… if but, as you might have guessed, with a fair dose of Hollyweird injected to dramatize and sensationalize the action. The folks in Hollyweird seem to love scenes where the character on-screen has to figure out which wire to cut, from THE ABYSS to LETHAL WEAPON 3 to BLOWN AWAY, and so on. Here, however, the setting grants a certain immediacy to the action, and despite the aforementioned quibbles about accuracy, it does so to great cinematic effect. The plot is relatively simple, but it’s effectively told: bomb is found, EOD guys go out to disarm it… rinse, wash, repeat.
There are some good wrinkles to the formula, one involving a kid with whom SSG James develops a sort of avuncular rapport. Another involves a scene redolent of the collar bomb heist covered on Netflix’s EVIL GENIUS. Like a scene in which the characters are underwater, the audience is naturally inclined to hold its breath. Here, too, there are some “hold your breath” scenes, either because the film so effectively generates tension or because the idea of being blown to smithereens invariably causes the audience to be as still as possible. I suspect it’s a little bit of both, but I’ll favor the former in part because the director, Kathryn Bigelow [who won the Best Director Oscar that year over her ex-husband (James Cameron, nominated for AVATAR)], actually managed to get final cut. That’s practically unheard of, but it clearly worked out pretty well *and* reinforces the idea that her vision was a good representation of what the folks fighting the War on Terror face, even if it wasn’t a wholly faithful version thereof.
An awful lot of this film does work, from the tension it manages to create to the way it communicates squad dynamics when a replacement comes along who doesn’t gel with the team the way the former squadmate did. The film also at least tries to be faithful to the source material in other ways, such as having the lead actor actually lumber around in the bomb disposal outfit rather than having some double do the job for him. It may seem like some method actor kitsch, but why not do it? If a film can’t convey everything accurately [and this one doesn’t], it can at least convey more accurately than less. For that, I’d say THE HURT LOCKER deserved the accolades it received during awards season.
If you’re a little more interested in a slightly more honest representation of “what it’s like,” however, I’d recommend this little vignette from the documentary OPERATION HOMECOMING: WRITING THE WARTIME EXPERIENCE. Entitled “Men In Black,” it manages to achieve in a few minutes what THE HURT LOCKER spends almost two hours trying to accomplish. Enjoy… on both accounts!
Other films recommended:
[Day 1 - KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (Director's Cut); Day 2 - GLADIATOR; Day 3 - TROY; Day 4 - SPARTACUS; Day 5 - BRAVEHEART; Day 6 - MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD; Day 7 - GLORY; Day 8 - GODS AND GENERALS; Day 9 - GONE WITH THE WIND; Day 10 - CAPITAINE CONAN; Day 11 - ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT; Day 12 - GALLIPOLI; Day 13 - PATHS OF GLORY; Day 14 - SERGEANT YORK; Day 15 - DAS BOOT; Day 16 - SAVING PRIVATE RYAN; Day 17 - PATTON; Day 18 - CROSS OF IRON; Day 19 - SCHINDLER'S LIST; Day 20 - FURY; Day 21 - MASH; Day 22 - TAE GUK GI: THE BROTHERHOOD OF WAR; Day 23 - PLATOON; Day 24 - FULL METAL JACKET; Day 25 - GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM; Day 26 - WE WERE SOLDIERS; Day 27 - DR. STRANGELOVE; Day 28 - RED DAWN]
