The War in Iraq and The Hurt Locker - Assignment Example

16 April Assignment "The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug." Chris Hedges In the recent past, one of Hollywood’s greatest achievements has been The Hurt Locker; a film based on an apolitical perspective with respect to the Iraq war. The Hurt Locker has been regarded as one of the best war time movies made in a long time. However, on taking a closer look at the film, it may as well be understood that the soldiers and troops in the film have only been window dressed in order to help civilians all over the world get an idea of the turmoil that Iraq is facing at present; something they will never be able to dispute because they have extremely miniscule chances of ever getting an opportunity to experience the real deal. Nonetheless, there are a number of differences in The Hurt Locker as compared to the actual backdrop of the war in Iraq; something that fails to dazzle the audience once it has discerned this very view. The film is extremely impressive to the common man; any individual in love with action films would recommend The Hurt Locker as one of the best made; however, if watched closely, the film has failed to incorporate the actual lifestyle that people have been living within against the backdrop of the war. The film has attained a large amount of critical response from war veterans all over the world claiming that it has portrayed wartime conditions in a very inaccurate manner, giving people a very different idea about the kind of life that soldiers, troops as well as the locals are living in Iraq. It is very easy for a commoner to sympathize with the conditions that any person has to live with in the lap of a war zone. The Hurt Locker, as a film, helps to gain that from the worldwide audience, one of the major reasons why it has had such a large viewership. Even though the film contains high tension, it is very different from the actual situation in Iraq, according to veterans and soldiers, after having watched the movie. According to Brandon Friedman, a renowned author as well as combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, “The Hurt Locker is a high-tension, well-made, action movie that will certainly keep most viewers on the edges of their seats. But if you know anything about the Army, or about operations or life in Iraq, youll be so distracted by the nonsensical sequences and plot twists that it will ruin the movie for you. It certainly did for me.” (Seaquist, Carla) Furthermore, the film is primarily about a bomb disposal team which according to the common audience, has been acted commendably. As per their acting skills, the cast have done a wonderful job; however, criticism was received from soldiers and troops that stated that the role of the bomb disposal team in the film was exaggerated to a great extent and it was not at all appropriate as per the actual situation in Iraq. The characters in the film have been described as action heroes from the Wild West movies rather than soldiers risking their lives and displaying emotions of patriotism. Nonetheless, there are a number of veterans that applauded the work of the directors as well as the cast in the film for having portrayed the roles of those in distress and dilemmas so well. According to them, it is obviously not possible to depict every scene perfectly and thus the movie had a hundred per cent efforts pooled in. The war in Iraq portrayed in Hurt Locker is much different from the actual war scenario that persists in Iraq. Many say that the film is not supposed to be depicted on real situations or is not a documentary and thus it is justified for the film to be different; however many veterans and locals that have experienced the actuality in Iraq are sensitive to this and are appalled by the way things have been depicted in the film. Soldiers state that the film has hurt their sentiments because they were there and have watched their friends dying in front of their eyes; they are first hand witnesses to watching people’s arms, limbs and legs being blown off due to explosions. The costumes that the soldiers wore in the film were very different from the armour they wore during the war; they could not take off their protective jackets and helmets just so they could feel comfortable, unlike portrayed by Renner in the movie. A news anchor from the NBC, Brian Williams has also felt very offended at the way the horrifying war was portrayed so ‘easily’, and has written a post about it regarding how the Hurt Locker has actually hurt emotions. The main reason as to why people are so enraged about the movie is because the war in Iraq was much more than a sergeant portraying his excellent skills at being fearless; it was a revolution brought on by the brave hearts of the country; it was a situation where fearless soldiers gave up their lives for the country despite having families to take care of. The Hurt Locker has tried its best to articulate the experience that soldiers and troops have had on the war field in Iraq but has failed in many ways. Despite this, it has given a realistic image of what life is like over there, and the hardships that a soldier has to suffer in order to keep his country safe. Nonetheless, the movie has made many people all over the world think that they know what the situation is like in Iraq, however until Hollywood aims at giving the right information; people will be lost in translation. It would thus make a difference if the life story of an individual living in Iraq was told in its entirety rather than keeping some of the primary facts a secret. Therefore, the film was different from the actual war in these ways and compared on a few grounds as explained above. Works Cited Seaquist, Carla. "The Hurt Locker: Hollywoods Unsettling View of the Iraq War." The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 29 Mar. 2010. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. . "When Cinema Verite Isnt." The Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, 23 Feb. 2010. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. . Read More