The Hurt Locker

If you're not put off by either the build-up of tension or a graphic presentation of some of the horrors of war, I recommend you see Kathryn Bigelow's new movie, The Hurt Locker. It has received glowing reviews, so I won't say anything at length; I'll just comment on what I think gives it its power. This is that through its central protagonist, played by Jeremy Renner, it particularizes its message that for some men 'war is a drug' - a quotation given at the beginning of the movie - but does so without simplifying him as a man, without treating him as just some gung-ho violence-merchant as it were. The thrill he gets from putting himself in danger will be, on one level, incomprehensible to many people. Literally: beyond their ability to see or feel their way inside. So it is, at any rate, for me. But The Hurt Locker makes Renner's character credible all the same, more than credible, by not simplifying him, by presenting him as a man with qualities and feelings he shares with you and me, with those not at all attracted by danger. It's two hours of utterly gripping cinema.