Hurt Locker (2008 US) It’s #FemaleFilmmakerFriday and todays entry is this war drama by Kathryn Bigelow. Two Bomb disposal unit soldiers played by Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie clash in the Iraq war. Renner plays a hot head and Mackie plays a soldier that wants to not die and they have words. This film is very well regarded with the age old thesis of what do we do with wound tight soldiers returning to civilian life. It won best picture at the Oscars in 2009 and Bigelow won best director, a first for female directors. Bigelow went with a technique that I like to call “Filmed in confusion”. What’s that you ask? It’s filming action sequences with a shaky camera, quick edits, tight shots and shallow depth of field. So basically you don’t see much. Why do that? It creates a sense of confusion almost like the audience is experiencing it themselves. Also, and this is the big one, it’s cheaper. Spielberg loves this technique because he loves getting an emotional reaction from the audience, ex Saving Private Ryan. Stanley Kubrick was the opposite. He sat that camera down in “Full Metal Jacket” and made you watch all the war action. The problem with Kubrick’s course of action is that is expensive. If you are looking at a wide action shot you have to fill it with stuff; explosions, extras, sets, costumes etc. With what Bigelow did you didn’t actually see that much and still had the same feeling. Bigelow was the able to save her money for the helicopters and stars, and just cool shots. She also did another technique that I call filming in shadow which is very similar to the filming in confusion. The actors were often backlit so that they were in shadow and you couldn’t see too much, therefore less set dressing. Michael Bay took these techniques just way too far in Transformers. I stopped watching it because I had no idea what was going on. So finding a balance is critical. This was written by Mark Boal, a former war correspondent which allowed him to create a script that felt realistic. Renner and Mackie are just fantastic in this. I felt that Bigelow, at certain points let these two actors just go for it. OK stressed out soldiers return to base, they get drunk, what would they do? And…Go!
Find this on Max or for rent on most streaming.