In fact, "The Hurt Locker" is also a cautious film, because there is a multiple "political correctness" on the issue of the Iraq war. Catherine Bigelow’s face with this subject matter is actually no different from James’ face with a bomb.
"The Hurt Locker" won the 82nd Oscar's six awards in one fell swoop, including heavyweight awards such as Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. It is not unreasonable. There are thousands of judges for the Oscars. To win the majority of votes, this movie must at least satisfy the tastes of most people. Judging from the report card of The Hurt Locker, it should have done this.
There have been a lot of American movies on the theme of the Iraq war, and I have watched a few. There are not many new ones. It can't say that reflections and the impact of the war on the combatants. Although it was very lively when I watched it, I finished watching it. It makes people feel dull, after all, there is no Hollywood routine. Today, the Iraq war is actually a troublesome thing. For this "present war," there are supporters and anti-wars. Obama actually has a headache facing the mess left by Bush. Use movies to reflect the Iraq war. If you don’t pay attention, you will either fall into the pit or turn into a bomb. Therefore, the cautiousness of "The Hurt Locker" is understandable.
Of course, "The Hurt Locker" is still an American film. Some commentators say that it is a film "made by the Americans and watched by the Americans." This is not unreasonable. But when you look closely, it's not all true. In my opinion, the success of "The Hurt Locker" depends to a large extent on its balance in the treatment of themes, that is to say, people with different views can get what they need, so it also won Most votes.
Since the Iraq War has developed to this day, neither heroizing the US military nor demonizing Iraq in movies actually work. Therefore, the Iraqi bomb that James faced threatened not only the US military, but also Iraqi civilians; therefore, what James dismantled was not the bomb, but the Iraqi mud that the United States stepped on but could not extricate itself from. So, I understand why James would return to Iraq to dismantle bombs in the end. The reason is very simple, because although Bigelow carefully avoided the question of "how did the bomb come", she still adopted the American perspective after all. It is the hands of the United States that hope to solve the real problems in Iraq. To put it bluntly, James the bomb disposal madman is actually nothing more than the incarnation of the United States.
The bomb disposal itself is a technical task, which is not a problem. The question is why there are so many bombs, and the question is why the US military, which was once the "liberator" of the Iraqi people, has become some kind of unwelcome person today. Bigelow obviously couldn't answer such a question, so James could only dismantle the bomb, which is what the old Chinese saying goes. Therefore, Bigelow did not hesitate to sacrifice the story of the film to adopt a nearly documentary approach, which cannot but be said to be her cleverness.
However, such cleverness comes at some price. Although "The Hurt Locker" has become a big Oscar winner by its careful "political correctness", the market has not bought it. The box office since it was released and in the weeks since it won the award. The list is very telling. Winning prizes and a double harvest at the box office seem to be impossible. It can be seen that even the old traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions do not cover all diseases. Bigelow dismantled a bullet on the subject, but the bullet at the box office came out again. Although her ex-husband Cameron lost her for a while at the Oscars, he rode a big bird soaring for ninety thousand miles at the box office. It seems that the box office is the biggest bird and who has the final say, even if Ralph Fiennes played a small supporting role in friendship, the problem will not be solved.
This is a movie about conflicts and how to resolve conflicts, but it does not propose a final solution to conflicts. Of course, this is also an impossible task for "The Hurt Locker", so it can only record styles, can only show inconclusive conflicts, and can only make James stand up and run to the battlefield to continue his bomb disposal. Volunteers face a new three hundred and sixty-five days.
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