Ethics in THE HURT LOCKER

Stalking an IED: an early scene from The Hurt Locker.

By BARCODE 2x

The Hurt Locker is director Kathryn Bigelow's blistering, immediate, and near-perfect meditation on the choices made in war time. Mark Boal's true account of his time embedded with a bomb unit comes to the screen with gritty power. The viewer feels the mounting tension and trauma in the soldier's minds. And for an ethical examination of war, the film masterfully shows us the thought processes that govern whether one lives or dies on any given day. This tense, intimate portrayal of life in combat on the streets of Baghdad throws the viewer right into the fray. With a handheld camera that shakes like the view through the scope of a rifle, and powerful performances, this brave film is destined to rank with the best war films ever made.

After a beloved team leader is killed by an IED by the roadside, this careful and responsible man is replaced by reckless cowboy Will James (Jeremy Renner). On his first day in the field, his two specialists Sanborn and Eldridge (Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty) are plunged into danger. It comes clear that James is reckless and unorthodox, hooked on the rush of defusing roadside bombs. The devices range from the simple to the dastardly elaborate, and James investigates each detonator with skill and intuition. He is praised by his superior officers as "a wildman". His maverick choices and independent spirit begin to push the wise, even-tempered Sanborn too far. The film shows the conflict between the rules and procedures of war, and the spontaneous, odd choices that often prevail. James would rather defuse a bomb than detonate it. He would rather save the suicide bomber's life and extract the delicate wires and batteries than see the bomb's destructive power.

James goes into the 25-meter kill zone wearing a hot, protective blast suit with a helmet, stalking in with the confidence and joy of an astronaut on a moonwalk. The suit and protective gear prove to be a hindrance to him. Early in the film, we see how the protective gear often fails. He removes the suit to defuse a multi-ton carbomb. He would prefer, he says, to die comfortably. He asks Sanborn and Eldridge to go beyond the call of duty, breaking every rule, going on vigilante missions and reckless manhunts for invisible insurgents. He saves lives. And he takes care of his men, in his way. He is direct and pragmatic, but crazed and abstract in his thinking. He can do what none of them can. He is an artist who puts on a suit and plays with detonators.  A question we have often asked at a2ethics is: is it right to protect the artist, if the art is worth protecting? James is certainly gifted, and on each mission, his men have to choose whether to protect him or let him die. They know that they do not have what it takes to put on the suit. So it becomes their job to enable the bad behavior of the one who can handle this task.

What makes an effective leader? While James puts everyone at risk, he also inspires bravery and focus that allows the men to make good choices. Assigned to watch James' back, Eldridge is given the choices as to whether to shoot at the moving shadows on the horizon. Cool and focused on the job, James says "it's your call." When Eldridge pulls the trigger and kills the sniper, he gets closer to understanding how the war works here. As Eldridge gradually unravels throughout the film, James is remarkably comforting to him. James has the secret to survival here: don't think too much about it.

In Apocalypse Now, Marlon Brando's Col. Kurtz praises the Viet Cong for their ability to kill "without judgment." Kurtz is confident that if he had a few small battallions of such men, the war in Vietnam would have been much easier to resolve. As in that film, the strength, focus, and ruthless kill-spirit of one's superior officer is the difference between success and failure in the field. Mavericks and renegades are the ones who stay alive, and keep the rest of us safe. Procedures can bog down the mission. Principles are at odds with expediency. James attempts to explain his mindset when he is in the field. He just tries not to think about anything, he says. He shuts off the part of his brain that is ruled by fear. He has become detached from his family in order to do his job. In this nightmarish scenario, James is more comfortable in a blast suit than in the comforts of his wife and infant son.

Once he is allowed to return home, our hero is severely damaged by his experience. Walking aimlessly through a grocery store with an empty cart, he is unable to choose a box of cereal. The cereal aisle is as torturous as any image in this film. An endless wall of cereal boxes in The Hurt Locker becomes as vast as the streets of Baghdad. This wall of brightly colored cereal choices shows us, in an instant, what this war is doing to our young people.

And when James joyfully returns to combat, signing on for another year, stalking forward with gun and blast suit, we sense that this is the only thing that makes sense to him. Sanborn and Eldrige are long gone. They were not in it for the long haul. The film gives us a sense that the war is a years-long process, one bloody day after day. Our confidence is put in men like Will James, who cannot imagine being anywhere else.

We are now post-Bush. Post-McCain. Cowboy wargames ruled the first eight years of this millenium. The word 'Maverick' is an ugly one. But films like this one show us why Mavericks get ahead in this world.

War films often arrive too late to make a difference. Important Vietnam films like Coming Home and Platoon sometimes waited over a decade to be made. And they become historical epics, rather than cautionary tales. In these times, The Hurt Locker gives us a rare, immeidiate, close look at the armed conflict we are in. From the streets of Baghdad to a desert shootout alongside reckless British mercenaries, this film gives us a look at the right and wrong of this war we are in. There are no good choices here. When James is asked by a superior what is the best way to disarm a bomb, he simply replies that any way will work. The way that keeps you alive is the way to do it. When he confesses to having disarmed over 800 such devices, his superior officer is in awe, and wants to shake his hand. In that moment, we all know that the fates of our men and women overseas lie in the judgment of people like him. We are put in harm's way by reckless and dangerous individuals. We pray that some might be as lucky as Will James and the men of The Hurt Locker.

This past November, A2ethics.org recorded a panel discussion with local veterans of the Iraq and Vietnam Wars. Listen here to our frank and difficult talk over veteran's affairs. Recorded on the eve of the 2008 election.

The Hurt Locker is rated R for extreme violence, strong language and themes.