The Hurt Locker - a review

It's late. I need to go to bed. But I'm wired. I blame the gluten free short-bread cookies that I baked after dinner, shortly before I threw away the rest of the batter to keep myself from doing it again. Cold, rainy day, that felt and looked like wet soiled socks wrung out to dry.
But hey, got my taxes done and filed. So, yay, me. Also watched The Hurt Locker - you know the film that won the Oscar. Not to mention the first female director to ever win one. Kathryn Bigelow who specializes in action films. Some great ones actually - including Point Break, Strange Days, Near Dark, and Blue Steel, also The Weight of Water, and K-9: The Widowmaker. The film is awesome and possibly the best war film I've seen in quite some time, and yes this includes the recent and somewhat endless croup of Irag War Movies.

The film starts with a haunting quote and is a character study based primarily on that quote, as well as study of what War does to people. It unlike most war films does not preach, it does not tell us what to think, it shows and lets us make up our own minds. It is, in short, a film for adults, while AVATAR in many ways felt like a war film for adolescent boys playing cheap video games on the internet, and that's coming from someone who actually enjoyed aspects of AVATAR. It's hard not to compare the two - because of all the films nominated, these two were discussing a similar topic - warfare. The difference? One romanticizes it and tells us what we should feel. The other shows what is and the latter one blew me away.

The quote that the film opens with is from War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, a best-selling 2002 book by New York Times war correspondent and journalist Chris Hedges: "The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug."

Then it proceeds to show us why that is and how WAR affects the lives of small unit of three to four men who disable bombs. And is based on the true story of a Explosive Ordiance Disposal Team during Iraq. It focuses on the lead, played by Jeremy Renner, in a performance that will stay with you long after the film is over. I fell a little bit in love with him in this role.
William James loves what he does, and what he does is disable bombs. He has disabled over 873 bombs. But we don't just get a character study of William James, we also get his second in command, Sanford, a black sgt. who had just lost the prior commanding officer. And the specialist, who has become traumatized. The film has almost no women in it, outside of a five minute screen appearance by James' wife, portrayed by Evageline Lilly of Lost fame. She has maybe two lines of dialogue.

This is what Kathryn Bigelow says regarding why she makes films and what interests her as a director:

I've spent a fair amount of time thinking about what my aptitude is, and I really think it's to explore and push the medium. It's not about breaking gender roles or genre traditions.

And with the Hurt Locker she does just that. Pushs the medium to its limit. This is a film that is flawless. Or close to it. Everything works. And it resonates with you long afterwards.
A powerful film about the pain and hazards of war. If you haven't seen it, you should.
It's worth the time.

(no subject)

Rainy cold day, with thunderstorms that woke me at 8:30 am, which was of the good, since that made it possible for me to get to church. Where I was richly awarded by hearing the minister's neice, Adrienne Danich, an opera singer - sing the following three pieces of music: Litany by Langston Hughes, Ave Maria, and He's Got the Whole World in His Hands. I'm no opera fan, but her voice and how she sung those songs with just a piano accompanying her, brought tears to my eyes. So beautiful. Plus light was flowing through the old tiffany glass windows in the old church.

See : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc-EpDcAFJA - for a promotional video of Adrienne Danrich singing This Little Light of Mine and a discussion on Marianne Anderson and the history of black women opera singers.

Because for some reason I can't copy it to my journal.

The itchy relations between a serials writer and their fans..

While discussing Caprica with an offline friend the other day, I realized how hard it is for people to watch or read serials. Or rather was reminded of it. Serials are works in progress. They aren't complete. And we don't really know if or when they will be completed. My friend, who I'll call "M" stated that she was having difficulties with Caprica because nothing was being wrapped up, the story was just dragging on. While she could handle this with daytime soap operas...night-time dramas, that aired once a week, and often two weeks or months off in between airings, felt endless. When, she asked, will we get a resolution? At least with an episodic series or even a combo such as say, The Good Wife - I know one plot line is wrapped up at the end. I don't have to keep track of it. I don't have to invest time in it or worry over the characters...because I know each week it will be wrapped up.

( incredibly long ramble about the relationship between fans and writers, from both perspectives, commenting on Neil Gaiman, George RR Martin and Joss Whedon as notable examples. )