Go, Bigelow, Go!

If you long for the days of real emotionally gut wrenching movie-making then Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker is the film to see. In it we are taken behind the scenes to follows a bomb disposal unit stationed in Baghdad, Iraq. These are the soldiers who seek and disarm road side bombs. With great sensitively the film captures the chaos and hopelessness of war as well as the madness of adrenaline addiction.

I loath war and haven't watched a war movie since my dad took our family to see The Guns of Navarone years ago. I walked out fifteen minutes into the screening. Even as a kid war images weirded me out. So what drew me to The Hurt Locker? First I was intrigued by the idea of a woman doing a war film and also that she is James Cameron's former wife and they are going head-to-head for Best Director and Best Film (okay, I confess, I can be as shallow as the next person). She did not disappoint.

I believe a film should haunt, linger in the heart and mind for a time and, at its most excellent, expand your world view. For my money, this year The Hurt Locker is that movie. Since seeing it, the mere mention of a 'bomb squad' causes its truth to flood my mind. I see the images and am once again reminded that as a species we must find another way to resolve conflicts, one that doesn't require bombs and guns and killing.

James Cameron spent $400 million to make a 3-D spectacle that has changed the movie-making game and will continue to generate a lot of loot in the industry (with that over the top budget this is the very least we should expect). But Kathryn Bigelow has accomplished something much deeper. With The Hurt Locker she reminds us of the painful complexity of war and how it destroys the human spirit. With poignant storytelling, she and script writer Mark Boal asks us to call forth our better selves and re-think the sacrifice we all suffer through war. There are no winners.

Kathryn Bigelow has more cojones than a football field full of guy movie executives and I applaud her for being so bold, so true and so gentle. I am greatly anticipating her acceptance speech for best director.