Reality blows
March 25, 2010 1:00 PM
Kathryn Bigelow’s 2009 film The Hurt Locker won the top honors at the Academy Awards for its white-knuckled portrayal of bomb disposal technicians in Iraq.
The film has been heralded for its realism and accurate depiction of real bomb disposal techniques, but it has recently come under criticism from real-life bomb experts who say that the film was mostly Hollywood nonsense.
The film depicts a team of bomb disposal technicians on the last days of their tour of duty in 2004.
After the original team leader is killed in an explosion, the military brings in his replacement: Staff Sgt. William James (Jeremy Renner), a reckless technician who is more concerned with the adrenaline rush of defusing bombs than keeping his unit alive at the end of the day.
The film was nominated for nine Oscars and won six for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Film Editing.
Explosive experts have said that the film’s use of the iconic bomb suit is inaccurate. For instance, the bomb suit is usually used as a last resort by technicians, while the film portrays it as the first tool the soldiers use.
Bomb experts prefer to do things as remotely and safely as possible, including using remote-control robots which the film briefly depicts, rather than defuse bombs up close and personal. As well, many criticized the portrayal of Renner’s reckless cowboy-type character.
The Press Herald quoted tech Sgt. Jeremy Phillips, a team leader in Iraq’s eastern Maysan province as saying that Renner’s character was “more of a run and gun cowboy type, and that is exactly the kind of person that we’re not looking for.”
Most of the actions performed by Renner in the film would also make his character subject to a court-martial, including the character’s proclivity to keep bomb parts from defused explosives underneath his bed.
In reality, such actions would be seen as withholding evidence because the military can use those salvaged bomb pieces to track down bomb makers.
Other specialists have said that the movie took cinematic liberties that would never happen in a war zone, such as a team wandering the streets of Baghdad without a military escort or a gung-ho soldier hunting a bomb-maker by himself in the night.
Perhaps the most offensive inaccuracy cited by critics was the portrayal of bomb disposal teams as brainless thrill-seekers. Renner’s character removes his bomb suit at one point in the film because he doesn’t want to die uncomfortable.
Another character, played by Anthony Mackie, is Renner’s subordinate, but at one point in the film punches him in the face and suffers no retributions from the military chain of command. Finally, one sequence has a high-ranking officer congratulating Renner on his character’s reckless antics, solidifying the notion that these personalities are rewarded in the military rather than reprimanded.
The Hurt Locker offered the opportunity to a Canadian manufacturer to showcase its product. The Allen Vanguard Corporation, based in Ontario, loaned the filmmakers the iconic bomb suit that was featured prominently throughout the film.
The suit is used in over 120 countries and is made from Kevlar, is fire-resistant, and can keep the wearer alive after being catapulted through the air.
Although The Hurt Locker offers its share of inaccuracies some military officers have enjoyed it for what it is: an adrenaline-fueled action movie that just happens to take place in Iraq with an obviously fictionalized bomb disposal team.
Tech Sgt. William Adomeit of Las Vegas told the Associated Press back in March that, “While it was sexed up quite a bit, I really enjoyed it.”
With files from: The Press Herald CBC AP
