Alphabetical Movie – The Hurt Locker    The Hurt Locker is not
made to be an anti-war film but that does not mean it is pro-
war.  It is a film about soldiers with an extremely dangerous
job and how they deal with that job.  It reduces triumphs and
defeats to moments of minimal consequence in the day-to-day life
of a soldier in a war zone.  Films that could be fairly argued
to be pro-war are about tactical victories.  The Dirty Dozen is
about a single mission and the victory of that mission.  The
Hurt Locker could have been about any single mission but
instead, it is about the fact that missions don’t end.  Imagine
if most of the Dirty Dozen had survived and returned to base.
 There would have been another mission.  And another.
Individual soldiers may be heroes but soldiering is a job.  A
very dangerous job.  It is not a mission.  It is not a series of
heroic encounters.  Most of it is just trying to get through the
day without getting yourself killed or wounded.  There doesn’t
seem to be any glory in what t