The Hurt Locker

Motion sickness alert! I wouldn't want to deter anyone from seeing The Hurt Locker as it's a very good film indeed, but anyone prone to motion sickness might like to take a few precautions. While not in the same nausea-inducing class as, say, Cloverfield, there's still enough lurching camerwork and changing of focus to make one feel rather ill. It's a shame as I'm sure I would have appreciated the film even more if I hadn't been fending off a headache.
Unlike most of the Iraq War films inflicted on us so far, The Hurt Locker doesn't try to score political points or tubthump it's anti-war credentials. Rather than have characters remind the audience that "war is hell" etc., the film builds up telling details such as the room full of white crates containing the belongings of the dead. Mainly though it gets the point across by focussing on the psychological toll on the soldiers, particularly the 3 man bomb disposal unit at its heart. For these men, more than any other group, death is an ever-present companion, a fact brought home in the opening sequence. A soldier can take every precaution possible and still be brought down by something as inocuous as a wheel coming off a cart. Sergeant James, on the other hand, is seemingly reckless. A man who wilfully puts himself in harm's way, his actions cause consternation for the rest of the unit. At one point, Sanborn and Eldridge seriously contemplate shooting James and making it appear like just another KIA - and you totally understand why. And yet James is undeniably good at his job: he has to be to have survived so long. The key lies in the men's different attitudes to war. The rookie Eldridge is convinced he won't make it, while Sanborn believes in self-preservation. James, however, loves the rush of adrenaline, the very fact of being in dangerous situations. Despite having a wife and baby son, the only place he feels at home is in the war zone. When he admits to only loving one thing, he doesn't mean his family. That in itself is a devastating comment on the way war effects those who fight.