Academy Awards

I was pleased that "The Hurt Locker" beat out "Avatar" in the major awards. I watched the ceremony with a group of friends, one of whom was clearly annoyed that "Avatar" wasn't recognized. She asked me what I liked about "The Hurt Locker." She had seen the film but said she didn't feel that she learned anything from it and didn't find it thought-provoking. Putting my thoughts into words to explain was challenging. Apart, of course, from the fact that (as my husband said) "'Hurt Locker' had actual actors and acting..." what makes it a great film is how well all the component parts work together: acting, writing, cinematography. In particular, I think the film presents great character studies. The two main characters, Sanborn and James, are polar opposites, and the tension between them adds to the conflict that drives the movie. Orbiting those two strong personalities is the younger soldier, who is a bit fragile, who is trying to figure out how to get through the terrible experience of the war and who looks to the two older men for models of how to survive.

The thing I liked least about the movie was the quotation at the beginning about war being a drug. I didn't find it necessary to hit the audience over the head with this observation, as the theme becomes clear through the action in the movie. The quotation violates the "show, don't tell" rule of storytelling.