the hurt locker -...
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The Hurt Locker
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The Hurt Locker (2008)
Released in New Zealand 1 April 2010 Director: Kathryn Bigelow Writer: Mark Boal
Main cast members Jeremy Renner ............................. Sergeant First Class William James Anthony Mackie ............................. Sergeant JT Sanborn Brian Geraghty ............................. Specialist Owen Eldridge Guy Pearce ............................. Staff Sergeant Matt Thompson Ralph Fiennes ............................. Contractor Team Leader
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Contents
NZ Herald film review .............................................................................................. 4
Before viewing activity ............................................................................................ 5
Personal response log ............................................................................................. 6
The Director ............................................................................................................. 7
Director’s style and vision ....................................................................................... 8
Setting ...................................................................................................................... 9
Key ideas/themes .................................................................................................. 10
Characters .............................................................................................................. 11
Scene analysis storyboards.................................................................................... 15
Scene analysis planning chart ................................................................................ 22
Scene analysis task ................................................................................................ 23
Sample film essay topics ........................................................................................ 25
Glossary ................................................................................................................. 26
Notes ..................................................................................................................... 27
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Be prepared for some tense scenes in Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker. Fi-nally, we get to see Oscar's little miracle. It's the movie that went out in the US last year with much acclaim but was largely ignored by American audi-ences who haven't warmed to Iraq War films.
Its stateside performance meant it slipped off the release slate in this part of the world. Until, that is, the Academy took a shine to it and gave The Hurt Locker six Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director to Bigelow. She's the first woman to win the accolade and it tops a career which has delivered some memo-rable genre exercises (vampires in Near Dark, sci-fi in Strange Days) but has mainly been marked by blokes with over-developed adrenal glands (Point Break) or ones trying to survive under unbelievable pressure (K-19: The Widowmaker). And so it is here, with The Hurt Locker offering a yes, explosive mix of bomb disposal thrills and psycho-logical portraits. It might be set in 2004 Baghdad but unlike its post-occupation cinematic competition, Green Zone, it says virtually nothing about the wider context of the invasion. Instead, it just concentrates on being a gripping and gruesome account of the bomb squad's final tour of duty. Fair enough too. When you are cutting the red or the blue wire - or trying to assess whether a surrender-ing suicide bomber has really had a change of heart - any nagging questions about why you are there in the first place might go to the back of your mind. It also lets the movie off the hook in a way. The bomb squad's there to save everybody from insurgent explosives which grants them an unimpeachable heroism. Making those kind of life and death calculations is the job of Staff Sgt William James (Renner). He's the new team leader to Sgt. J.T. Sanborn (Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Geraghty), who have just lost their old boss. But James isn't as much interested in leadership as defusing IEDs (improvised explosive de-vices) with reckless abandon, which is sure to get them all killed. And thus the film lights its own fuse: is James himself a bigger ticking timebomb than the crude devices he has to deal with? Will his apparent addiction to the rush of knowing he could die with the next snip of his pliers be his undoing? It's an unnerving experience to be in his company. But there are times when the script by Mark Boal, for-merly an embedded journalist with a US Army bomb squad, unfortunately abandons its otherwise clear-eyed approach to its mission and faux-doco realism, like when James befriends an Iraqi boy which leads into something both credulity-stretching and rare - uncalculated risk. Much of its screentime is spent on hand-held shots of a guy in protective gear walking slowly down dusty streets. But as a pure action film, The Hurt Locker still has plenty to make you duck. Especially in a firefight when the team encounters a squad of mercenaries led by Ralph Fiennes doing his best Lawrence of Ara-bia, in which Bigelow shows she sure knows how to choreograph a range war and drop you into the thick of it. But it's The Hurt Locker's spellbinding sense of tension-and-release and its uniformly engaging perform-
ances that are the making of it. They don't render it flawless, but they sure make it an Iraq War movie you don't have to dislike the Iraq War to like. Russell Baillie
The Hurt Locker Russell Baillie, NZ Herald Review, 1 April 2010
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Before viewing
What do you already know about the Iraq war?
Using the resources supplied, can you identify different perspectives on the war? What are they?
What would you like to learn about this movie or this war?
What sort of issues or themes do you expect to appear in a war movie?
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Personal response log
After each viewing, record your personal response to the film here. What effect did the film have on you? What was the most memorable scene? Why? Viewing 1:
Viewing 2:
Viewing 3:
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The Director
With The Hurt Locker, Bigelow became the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director, the Directors Guild of America Award for Out-standing Directing, the BAFTA Award for Best Direction, and the Critics' Choice Award for Best Director.
Kathryn Bigelow
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The Director’s style and vision
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Setting
Where and when is the film set?
How is the setting established?
What details are emphasised?
Which characters are identified as important?
How is this done through film and sound techniques?
What are characters doing and/or saying the very first time we see them?
Does this action indicate any qualities about the person that become important later?
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Key Ideas/Themes
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Characters
Characters in literature are created by the writer’s pen and the reader’s imagination. Characterisation in film depends on the script, the casting, the actor’s interpretation, the director’s interpretation, costume, makeup, the use of light, sound, music and camera angle. Any one of these things can affect our response.
The Screenplay
As in fiction, many of the significant qualities of the characters are designated in the writer’s instructions: what they are to say and do, how to react and respond, what others say about them.
Does the screenplay create a distinctive style of speech/behaviour for each major character?
Casting
How well do you think this film was cast?
Acting
Good actors can show a character’s inner life though their facial expression and body language.
Look for examples of this.
Use of Costume
Costume is a useful shortcut in drama and film, to give us an immediate idea of how we are supposed to see characters.
How has costume been used to assist characterisation?
Use of Light, Sound, Music, Cinematography, Camera Angles
Look particularly for the use of high angle and low angle shots to suggest power, threat, vulnerability etc. Look for the way light and music used to increase our sympathy for, or identification with, a character.
Introduction of Characters
Look carefully at the way each character is introduced. Our responses to them will develop from this initial introduction. How does the director want us to respond? What techniques are used to create this response?
Where is the character when we first see them? What camera shots are used?
What does their costume, hair, makeup tell us?
What are they doing? saying? thinking?
Is contrast with other characters established?
Development of Characters
As the film progresses, measure each character against your first impressions.
Do subsequent events reinforce or contrast with the first impressions? Do we learn more?
Does the character change and develop or stay the same?
Look for ‘character defining’ moments.
Consider also the role, the function, of each character in the narrative. What do they contribute to the story that is being told?
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Sergeant JT Sanborn
Played by Anthony Mackie TASK: Use the checklist on page 11 to build a character profile and analysis for Sergeant JT Sanborn.
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Specialist Owen Eldridge
Played by Brian Geraghty TASK: Use the checklist on page 11 to build a character profile and analysis for Specialist Eldridge.
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Sergeant First Class William James
Played by Jeremy Renner TASK: Use the checklist on page 11 to build a character profile and analysis for Sergeant James.
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Scene analysis
Use the film term glossary and the storyboards on these pages to assist your detailed analysis of two key sequences within the film. Scene Title:
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Use the chart below to record information to help you with your scene analysis task.
scene mise en scène cinematography post production
Remember to look for:
Camera work: noting framing, camera angle and size of shot, camera movement
Light, colour: how much, direction it is from, use of shadow or silhouettes etc; use of warm or
cold colours
Editing: cuts, dissolves; pace, juxtaposition etc.
Sound: dialogue, voice over, music, sound effects
Scene analysis planning chart
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Scene analysis task
Describe the camera shots and the film techniques used in each of the two key scenes you have storyboarded. Explain what information is presented or conveyed from the use of these techniques and production tools.
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Scene analysis task
Describe the camera shots and the film techniques used in each of the two key scenes you have storyboarded. Explain what information is presented or conveyed from the use of these techniques and production tools.
Scene Title:
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Choose ONE topic. Read the whole topic and make sure you understand it before you begin your answer. Write an essay of AT LEAST 400 words. Your essay should develop a critical response based on close analysis of appropriate text(s). You should support your ideas with relevant evidence. You will be rewarded for demonstrating perceptive understanding and sustained insight. Your essay should include:
an introduction, clearly stating the focus and scope of the argument a range of appropriate points, supported by accurate and relevant evidence• a reasoned conclusion.
Your essay should show accurate use and control of writing conventions.
FILM(S)
Discussion of one of the topics in this section should focus on at least ONE full-length film or
SEVERAL short films.
Either:
1. “The best films allow viewers to reflect on key ideas.” To what extent do you agree with this view? Respond to this question with close reference to one or more films you have studied.
Or:
2. “The creative vision of the director is the most important factor in how a film is finally presented.” To what extent do you agree with this view? Respond to this question with close reference to one or more films you have studied.
Or:
3. “Action and sensation – nowadays these triumph at the expense of the development of char-acter and / or theme.” To what extent do you agree with this view? Respond to this question with close reference to one or more films you have studied.
Sample film essay topics
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Glossary
Add any new terms to this list. EOD Explosive Ordnance Disposal IED Improvised explosive device
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Notes
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Notes