“The Hurt Locker,” a war drama directed by Catherine Bigelow, was released in 2008. Thus, the action develops slowly, gradually concentrating into a dense, almost physical tension that does not let go for a long time after the finale. In this film, Catherine Bigelow shows that war is an addiction, and a person who has survived the war will never be the same as before. Therefore, it is important to determine how the screenwriters and directors recreate such a realistic image of the war.
Jeremy Renner portrays a virtuoso sapper who is on the verge of exploding each of the hundreds of mines he defused. Dying and reviving, as if with an elusive change of them, he returns to the war zone whenever he leaves. The film’s plot revolves around a platoon of American sappers and their daily work. The movie is based on short stories by freelance journalist Mark Boal, who for some time was embedded in the bomb squad during the Iraq War. He watched the sappers’ work and followed them 10-15 times a day on various tasks. Consequently, a significant influence on the quality of the film was that the actors tried to research their roles as much as possible and understand what the work of a minesweeper is.
Filming was on the territory of Kuwait and Jordan, and some locations were located three miles from the Iraqi border. In addition, Catherine Bigelow involved the Iraqi refugees as extras to the capturing. Part of the filming took place during the holy month of Ramadan, so the actors and crew members who do not profess Islam ate in tents. During the filming, Jeremy Renner was dressed in an actual anti-explosion suit of American sappers weighing 63 kilograms which contributed to the realistic picture of the movie. It can be concluded that the writer, producer, director, editor, lighting, music, sound, cinematography, location, and wardrobe contribute to viewing the film. They all influenced its implementation and added their own impact to make the movie as realistic and pleasing as possible.
The Hurt Locker impartially testifies to the beauty of the war and its madness. The movie is accessible and simple, without unnecessary words and bravura music, showing that war is not a driving massacre but an endless sitting behind a slope, looking into the sight of a rifle. In the opening scene, one can see how stones, sand, and rust first fly into the explosion in slow motion. But for the most part, the film consists of calm episodes outside the radius of the explosion of mines and tense scenes of agonizing expectations within the radius. The flow of the tape plunges viewers into some meditative state in which one does not notice anything extraneous. Such flow is also facilitated by the hand-held camera chosen to film most scenes: what is happening on the screen does not look like a documentary, but more like shooting real life, without the use of strong video editing.
In conclusion, the picture clearly shows that the film is a unique cinematographic work unlike anything else. During this turbulent story, man has mastered and created many terrible environments, getting used to and adapting to most of them. Nevertheless, it is hard to imagine someone scarier than someone who has everything exploded inside for a long time and is attracted like a magnet by a minefield. Moreover, the scriptwriters and directors have done everything possible to make the costumes, the location, and the plot contribute to the viewing and be as realistic as possible.