"The Hurt Locker"

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Tonight I watched "The Hurt Locker." Despite my trepidations, it turned out to be less horrifying in its blood-and-gore components and far more horrifying in its quiet observations about the shredding of the human condition.

The movie is a story about a bomb squad in Iraq and the adventures they encounter as they seek to disarm improvised explosive devices in various settings. These are men who care and yet their caring is, by necessity, held at bay ... except when, despite valiant efforts, it pops out unannounced and puts these men in greater danger than they already face. They are human beings who cannot afford too much humanity ... a horrific price to pay.

But the movie was quiet in its assertions. No flag-waving patriotism, no flag-waving pacifism ... just war and the hurts that it can inflict. It was like a whisper and that whisper was raw and insidiously sad.
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