Academy Award Nominations

The Hurt Locker is dedicated to the theme of Iraq war. It tells about a United States Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team. The film director is Kathryn Bigelow and the screen was written by Mark Boal. Being an embedded journalist Mark Boal could observe everything that happened during the armed conflicts in Iraq. It was decided to shot the film in Iraq in order to make the atmosphere of the film close to reality. Many Iraq refuges also made a definite contribution to film shooting by playing in the background.

The release date of The Hurt Locker was June, 26 2009. The film was nominated for nine Academy Awards. It was awarded to six, such as Best Picture, Best Director, Directing, Film Editing, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing. The Hurt Locker also won six Bafta Awards.

The plot of the film runs as follows. In 2004 Sergeant First Class William Lames becomes a team leader in Bravo company of a U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit. At that time William James took the place of Staff Sergeant Thompson who was killed in Baghdad.Sergeant Sanborn and Specialist Owen Eldridge enter the team. Their task is to communicate with the team leader by means of radio which is placed inside his bombsuit. The mission of the new team is to inspect the locality of present day Iraq. At every step there a danger may be hidden in the form of bombs or sharp-shooters. Despite this fact the team tries to do the job well by making the city safer for Iraqis and Americans.

As the main characters disarm IED there some miscommunication appears between the main characters. Sanborn and Eldridge do not support the methods of their team leader considering them to be imprudent.

In some time James gives orders to his team to get on the tracks of three insurgents who are responsible for an explosion. Sanborn does not want to accept this order however soon he complies with the task. During the operation Eldridge is injured.

After an unsuccessful mission to disarm a time bomb Sanborn can not restrain and he tells James that he can not endure the war tension. His best wish is to leave Iraq. Soon James finishes his mission of a team leader and he returns home to his family. But his being at home was not long. Shortly after James is seen serving with Delta company of an EOD.

The Hurt Locker is a great film. Kathryn Bigelow showed the real picture of the army conflict in Iraq. This is a story about three bomb technicians who discharged their duties even in such situations when their lives hung by a thread.