The Hurt Locker - Not Just Another War Movie

THE RUSH OF BATTLE IS OFTEN A POTENT AND LETHAL ADDICTION, FOR WAR IS A DRUG. Those were the words displayed across the screen before the opening scene in the movie, The Hurt Locker, the 2009 American war thriller on the Iraqi war. The film follows an EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) Team through their final month in Iraq after their original team leader was killed trying to disarm an IED (Improvised Explosive Device). While this movie is about war and the military, its purpose is not action or combat, but to reveal the struggles within a select Army bomb squad as they try to adjust to a new team lead. These struggles were both internal and external.

The team’s youngest member, Specialist Owen Eldridge, wrestles with issues of life and death after failing to shoot the insurgent who detonated the IED that killed their original team leader. Eldridge meets with a psychologist to discuss his emotional state, namely that he is troubled by a strong feeling that he too will be killed while on a mission. During one particular session, feeling that his psychologist cannot relate to what is troubling him, Eldridge offers for the therapist to accompany the team in the field so he can better understand what his patient has to endure on a daily basis. The psychologist joins the team on a mission and ironically ends up being killed by an IED explosion. In spite of this setback and feeling even more bewildered, SPC Eldridge becomes more and more confident throughout the movie, determined to fight his internal struggles and the demons of war.

For Sergeant JT Sanborn, his difficulty lies more directly with the new team leader, Staff Sergeant William James, than anything internal. SSG James is described by SGT Sanborn as “reckless.” On the team’s first mission under the lead of SSG James, James decides to defy protocol by wearing a bomb suit instead of initially dispatching a robot to examine the suspected IED. This risk taking, added to the fact that James often fails to communicate with his team, has Sanborn rightfully worried. It’s not that anyone is concerned about James’ skill as James has disabled over 870 IEDs and is one of the best technicians, but the problem is that often James does his job with disregard to his team’s safety. The only thing on Sergeant Sanborn’s mind is getting out of Iraq alive and well, and with only one month left in their rotation, he sees James as a threat to their safety and his chances of reaching that date alive.

To SSG James, his job is the best in the world. James is an unusual soul who loves the thrill of disarming IEDs. Having served in the 75th Ranger Regiment in Afghanistan, a unit which has experienced extremely intense combat areas, James was hardened to danger. He sees nothing wrong with the way he works. James likes to have fun while doing his job despite the seriousness of his line of work. While conversing with a Colonel who was complimenting James’ skill, the Colonel dubbed James “a wild man” after asking James what the best way was of disarming an IED. SSG James had replied, “The way you don’t die, Sir.” Under his bed, James keeps a box filled with the detonator switches from every IED that he has ever disarmed. James preserves those pieces because he is fascinated with things that almost killed him. When one day SPC Eldridge peers into James’ box and pulls out a necklace with a wedding ring on it, Eldridge asks what the ring was doing in the box. James replies, “Like I said: things that almost killed me.”

A setback in the movie is when SPC Eldridge is accidentally shot by SSG James while chasing down a group of insurgents who had detonated an IED under an M1A2 Abrams tank. The team seemed to have been falling apart with only a few days remaining in their rotation in Iraq when this occurred. Luckily, however, in spite of all of the challenges and risks, they all make it back alive.

While at home with his wife and son, SSG James cannot seem to adjust to life without war. While playing with his infant son, James explains to him that as one gets older, there are fewer activities in life one really enjoys, and that it may be only one or two things that give true satisfaction. The movie ended with a scene of SSG James stepping off a helicopter after it landed in Iraq. 365 days until the end of his next rotation. I don’t know what message that gives to a son, war being more important and satisfying than family, but fortunately his son was an infant and could not see that his father was more satisfied fighting than being at home. It seemed as if SSG James was destined to be a military man.

Before I saw the movie, I thought it would be merely a war movie with a lot of action and little or no plot. I was surprised by the storyline and really enjoyed the movie as it examined the war’s effect on each of the main character’s personality. The audience is able to truly get to know the characters and understand what it is each is going through without having to actually be there. I have seen the movie several times already, and I enjoy watching it every time.