Post 5: Kathryn Bigelow

Director Kathryn Bigelow directs her crew.
The Hurt Locker (2008)

In trying to brainstorm what female artist or director has had some sort of presence in entertainment, Kathryn Bigelow is one of the few I can say that I thoroughly enjoy. She has made several blockbusters throughout the years like Point Break, The Hurt Locker, and Zero Dark Thirty. She also became the first woman to win Best Director for The Hurt Locker at the Academy Awards. She has also recently focused on the illegal ivory trade industry in which elephants are being slaughtered to extinction in order to sell the ivory to black market funded terrorist groups. I am focusing on The Hurt Locker film.

The movie was filmed in Jordan, as close as possible to the Iraqi border in order to get as much of an authentic location for the story as possible. This is very noticeable in the movie because the environment doesn't look like a Hollywood set, it looks very middle eastern, including the extras. The movie follows a team of U.S. Army EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) technicians counting down the last days of their Iraqi deployment. After the team suffers a casualty from an IED that was detonated remotely, they receive a new arrival to the team, Sergeant First Class William James. The movie then immediately focuses on James and the tension that not only comes from his team, but from the work environment.

A lot of the movie's shots are extremely artistic and detailed. From the rising sand that is propelled from a bomb explosion, to the faces of the EOD technicians being covered in sand and insects, the movie looked like a very real Iraq war. Another huge factor of the movie was the insane amount of tension that came from the bomb scenarios. The movie begins with a bomb scenario and all the team does is constantly observe and scout the area for potential security threats. The movie doesn't let up from the tension that comes from the possibility of death at any second, and that's how I would imagine a combat deployment to Iraq would've felt like.

The movie was met with almost universal critical praise. Noted film critic Roger Ebert even listed it as #2 of the best films of the decade (2000's). The movie won six Oscars, one of which was for Best Director, and Kathryn Bigelow became the first female director to win the award. This achievement is a great proving point that will allow women to effectively state that great storytelling isn't limited to one gender. Hollywood can take great notice from this, and take more chances with women directors to tell great stories in their way.

Kathryn Bigelow creates a complex character with Sergeant James. His work ethic clashes with the conventional ways the team is used to peforming. I connected with this movie because I have had past co-workers in the Navy that were considered reckless and irresponsible like James, but they were also highly skilled individuals, and I always admired that trait that people had where they were so extremely good in their job, they were able to afford to be a little unprofessional.

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Works Cited:

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/sep/08/entertainment/et-hurt8

http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/the-best-films-of-the-decade

http://wildaid.org/lastdays