TheAlbrechtSquad - Hurt Locker Review

I must start off mentioning that this review is a consolidation of thoughts from me and my husband who is a Soldier who has served over 20 years (dang that makes us sound old).

While many would probably tell me to ignore the little details, I happen to be a details person because I often find that those who don’t bother with the “little” things often miss the bigger, most important things. I had a notebook with me as I watched to capture some of the thoughts that crossed my mind.

Let me start off by saying that my husband acknowledged that they did a good job putting you on the streets of Iraq. The atmosphere was almost spot on. The way the children acted both loving and with hatred and the leering of the adults on the sides of the street. Very realistic. I also want to say I quite enjoyed the moments when you could feel the Soldiers and their sense of camaraderie and the need to take care of one another. That’s about where the realistic points of this movie ended for me.

Right from the beginning I noticed that they were all wearing ACUs. Since the story was supposed to have taken place in 2004, this is not realistic as ACUs were not being issued to all troops at that time. In fact, few had them, so the fact that everyone in the movie was wearing ACUs shows me that someone did not do a lot of research there. Oh and the sleeves don’t get rolled up on the ACUs the way the Soldiers had them. They don’t get folded/rolled up at all.

Something else that caught my eye almost immediately was the fact that SGT Sanborn was wearing a Combat Infantry Badge (CIB). I thought that a little odd as an EOD tech but gave the benefit of the doubt that maybe he had reclassed (how is that for imagination!). Well later in the movie while he was chatting with SFC James, he mentioned that before becoming an EOD tech he had served for 7 years in the Military Intelligence field. He was not authorized a CIB. A detail like that is very important to me.

I thought it was ridiculous that 3 Soldiers were running around the streets of Baghdad alone. That is not logical or realistic. Throw in when SFC James goes to try and find out about the young Iraqi boy who was killed and he is running through the streets alone. I had a good chuckle over that.

I greatly dislike that they had the drinking scene. I’ll be real, it has happened over there but to that extreme, not likely. Along with that, the SGT punching his superior, stupid. The ego on that SFC, in a job like EOD, confidence is a must but there isn’t much room for cockiness, it’s a good way to get yourself killed.

I have to admit I had high expectations for this movie, after hearing from so many people that it was the best war movie to date and so real. I have heard that from both military personal and civilians alike. Unfortunately I was disappointed and my husband was disappointed. It’s a good action flick, for those who care not about the little details in regards to the military aspect, it’s worth your money. For those hoping that someone would finally get “it” right, wait until you get a code for a free rental at one of those Redbox machines.

The Albrecht Squad

http://thealbrechtsquad.blogspot.com/

"As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord and our Country"

USMCWIFE8999 TAKE ON HURT LOCKER

I went to the theater to watch Hurt Locker the first time on base with a theater full of Marines. It is always interesting to watch these types of movies with Marines. As soon as the movie rolled the entire theater went silent (not typical in a theater full of Marines). To rip-off a line from Jerry McGuire, this movie had me from the first scene. I think it would be a fair assessment to say this movie takes you in and puts you on the streets in Iraq in 2004 in the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I felt that there was so much to take in and see, like I was standing on the streets watching the movie unfold. The director successfully created what I imagine it must be like there, and asking my husband he said that in fact it was very much like Iraq.
Hurt Locker doesn’t pull any punches about war, or at least the life of an Explosive Ordinance Disposal Technician (EOD). It’s gritty and dirty and it captures the courage of these men. Not really sure about all the technical aspects being realistic..ie..weapons, vehicles and stuff like that. My only concern is what the civilian population will see when viewing the movie. Our military have a different eye for these types of things that I do not as a spouse. What I also think it captured was the type of person that does this job, the protagonist of the film Ssg. James, played brilliantly by Jeremy Renner seemed to be right on target with the no holds barred EOD type I have met. EOD guys (again, that I have met) are a bit off center and a little primadonish. I like that the filmmaker balanced out the James character with Sgt. Sanborn as the voice of reason and Eldridge the innocent “follower” both played respectfully by Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty. I think it was important that these types of soldiers were also in the mix to show that there is no “typical” soldier and that usually the commonality is the brotherhood that the three of these characters eventually developed.
I really do not want to get into the nitty gritty of the film, if I was to do that this could go on for days. Since my goal is to point out what I believe to be right on target with what I know of the military and what seems off or not in line of what I know. I believe for the most part Hurt Locker was a fair portrayal of the men of EOD and the things they deal with. Maybe not in whole, some things were incredibly doubtful but it was a movie. In fact I had to decide if this was a movie I wanted to introduce to my husband when he first returned from Afghanistan since the first 2 months there they lost 3 of their EOD. I think this movie is realistic enough that you as a spouse may want to take a moment before screening it for your loved one if they haven’t yet seen it.
What I personally identified with was the “loyalty” of the long suffering wife played by Evangeline Lily. I think most of us understand her pain and longing for the “normalcy” that often eludes us for longer than we would like. Honestly there were only two things in the movie I want to call out as unfair. I think the shooting of the Iraqi man by soldiers was not necessary. Do I think this has never happened? Well it might have, do I think it has happened enough to be in this film, no I do not. So I think that could have been omitted, it paints soldiers in a light I think is unfair. Also the drinking part and getting wasted on base, from my knowledge alcohol is forbidden, especially in those early days, my Army sisters may have to chime in on this since all my knowledge is Marine based. Probably not a big deal but still seemed out of sync.
I would enthusiastically recommend the Hurt Locker, keeping in mind it is a movie and facts aren't always facts when drama is needed for a movie.

Tucker's Take: The Hurt Locker

Hmmm. I'm not really sure where to start with this one. I am rather conflicted... there are my feelings towards the movie as a whole, my feelings about the nitty gritty details, and (I think) more importantly my feelings about how Baghdad 2004-ish shaped my husband. And I will fully admit that, with my husband currently deployed, emotions are running high for me.

See, my husband was there around the time this movie was set (earlier if you want to get more precise). I have heard his tales of what it was like... the streets, the filth, the civilians, the kids, the gunfights erupting out of nowhere on a daily basis. On this front, I felt like the movie put me on those streets, it created the world that my husband has spoken of, the one that I always tried to picture but never could get right. I felt the tension and anxiety and paranoia (often completely warranted) and the fear and the bravado and the constantly conflicting emotions. I felt the camraderie and the anguish and the chaos and I saw each character trying to find any way to cope. I watched as young men faced their own mortailty, sometimes responding with all the swagger of John Wayne on steroids, sometimes pulling so far into themselves they needed help coming back. I felt like the movie, as well as it could in it's setting (combat), did a good job capturing the spectacular array of emotions, the vast ways they cope, the things they do to get by, they ways they struggle to connect with the outside world.

It did a great job getting me to think. Think about what it was like for my soldier (we weren't together at that time, it was a tough deployment that ended with more than a few of his soldiers & friends KIA and a Purple Heart for my husband). How did he cope? Was the the calm, cool-headed one? The risky one, because his life back home was imploding? Was he by the books or playing by his own rules? Was he the one who retreated into himself? The one riddled with fear or guilt? Or the one who put on the brave face or dolled out the jokes? What was it really like for him? On this front- I think the movie was a HUGE success. Emotionally, it was subtle but complex (so many things were conveyed in an almost covert manner, a few phrases, a look, or a gesture were abe to speak volumes, I was impressed by this), varied and seemingly authentic. It was true to the fact that not all soldiers are alike, they deal with their own issues in ways to varied to list, not all have emotional struggles, and not all are John Wayne, some want out, some want back in the fight. Our Armed Forces take all kinds, and are, ultimately, more successful for it.

Now, I don't know any EOD guys. Nor can I speak to the autenticity of the EOD specific parts of the movie. But I did appreciate that there wasn't a cheesy, swelling soundtrack to up the drama. It was dramatic enough on its own and I'm glad they respected that. I was grateful that the explosions weren't over the top and that there weren't any ridiculous special effects. I was pleased that they touched on the relationships with the locals that are sometimes formed, the connections that are made with the people and the country they are fighting for. I was also very glad they touched on how surreal it is for soldiers to come home. 365 days of near death, constant threat, adrenaline, fear, bravery, insanity- and then *poof*- you are faced with the cereal isle in the grocery store. That is real. And that is, often, a huge issue for many returning soldiers. How do you go from one to the other in the 48 hours it takes to fly home?

What also struck me was how unnatural it is for young men (and women) to be facing death with such intensity. I can't imagine how being intimately and acutely aware of your own mortality at such a young age colors the choices you make. Does it make you more wreckless (is that why SSG James is the way he is?)? Or does it make you more cautious? Does it make you reassess your priorities (like SGT Sanborn)? Or does it simply change who you are at your very core? Most people don't face their mortality so frankly until they are much older and wiser, after their big life choices are made. How do you deal with this when you are barely drinking age, newly married, or just out of college? How?

Lastly, the thing that will stick with me most was what SSG James said at the end, "...the older you get the fewer things you love...". Part of me disagrees, and part of me thinks that truer words have rarely been spoken. I do think, the older you get, the more focused your love gets. The silly things do fade away, the little things don't matter as much, and the big thing(s) crystalize and pull away from the others. But your capacity to love, I think, increases if you choose to let it in... maybe combat changes that, I can't say. Yes, there are guys like him, who are both selfish and selfless, who love the combat, the job, the rush, the Army (et al) more than anything else. And honestly, I'm grateful for them, because they are the ones walking into the fight as everyone else is running out. Where would be we without guys like that?

Yes, there are little things like ACUs on every soldier (most guys were still in DCUs in 2004) and other things that I can't 100% speak to because I'm not the expert. But overall, I would definatley recommend this movie, if only to get you thinking about the emotional complexities of war without the prototypical "Vet/Soldier on the Brink of a PTSD Meltdown" cloud cast over the characters. But also because I think this is Hollywood's best recent attempt to get it right. It isn't 100% there, but its a whole lot closer than anything else I've seen.