"Hurt Locker" is a big insult to vets

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
For me it is a film and is thus fiction. No film, book or any other characterisation ever depicts everyone in a good light, regardless of what happens in reality.

The sooner we separate entertainment from fact the better our following generations will understand what has gone before and not some cinematic screen shots depicting the directors imagination.

This comes from a "loggie", who has never had a film made about his courageous exploits, but then what is exciting about 19 hour days, irate commanders and farting soldiers?
 
Only watched this film up until the point where the "hero" takes off his gear and says something like "if I'm going to die, I'll die comfortable". Haven't got around to seeing the rest but intend to at some point
Of what I saw, and bearing in mind I've never worked in a warzone nor with bomb disposal, even I felt the "hero" came of as an gung-ho, un-professional git. Outside of that, the film as far as I’m aware is fictional and while based in an actual real-time warzone, its made by Hollywood and that mob have always had a habit of perverting the view of the real world. I think if you are going to watch something like this, you will have to take it with a grain of salt (or perhaps a bag).
I read Eight Lives Down by Chris Hunter prologue to his book here http://www.randomhouse.com.au/Editor/Documents/Extract_EightLivesDown.pdf and found it to be a good tale of professionalism and stress that bomb disposal personnel face in the field. If Hollywood wanted to make an authentic film then perhaps they should have focused on an actual event. They did this with Generation Kill and Blackhawk Down and because these films kept pretty close to the books they were based on and because they were written by either people who were there or from the interviews of people involved in the battles, they came off with an authentic image of the events involved (at least from my POV).
Just my two cents worth.
 
I think I saw the movie. The french name is "démineurs" or "demolition team", as their job is to defuse bombs and IEDs.

And I dont think that the movie is a real slap to the face to vets. It's not. The movie is about a man who became an action junky, looking for adrenaline... for action.

So you will see him through a lot of reckless actions... Some might seem unrealistic. But it's not so outrageous. And I would say that it fits the character...

And you see him at home, bored to death in the civilian life, living in a crappy home... Speaking to his baby son about how he is bored and how he lost interest in what he loves in war.

So, he doesnt respect security protocols, the same protocols that turns a professional army into a bunch of undisciplined gunmen... But are the protocols always respected on the field?
 
May I ask what is so objectionable? (I havent seen the movie yet, I am asking a serious question).

From the articles you posted, it would suggest that the film over-sensationalizes the role of EOD people. I can understand that frustration, but what it the difference between this and RAMBO/John Wayne/Hells Angels and the zillion other overhyped war movies that have been going on since the age of silent pictures.?

I am not saying you are wrong, but this type of overblown/overexaggeratted war movie have been done many times in the past. Distasteful?: Yes, New?: No.

I guess my only advice is to take it for what it really is: a piece of fiction.
 
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I guess that while this war is still going on, and the popularity that it has received, I really don't like the world getting the somewhat skewed outlook on what we are doing over here.

You can have an adrenaline filled movie, and they could have done that, but the producers took it down a path that isn't realistic.

As stated in the LA Times article, the DoD pulled out of an advisement role because of script changes. The military was on board, but then pulled out because of that.

They could have had the same result with a little bit better advisement.
 
The power of theater... it cannot be ignored.
The ancient Southeast Asian Kingdoms like the Sriwi Jaya Kingdom are sometimes called "Theater Kingdoms" because the legitimacy of the rulers was often supported by theater. Rituals, Wayang shows and others.
Tried finding an internet source on it.
The only thing I could find was this Amazon.com reference to a book that uses that term. Negara: The Theater State in 19th Century Bali by Clifford Geertz.
The word "theater" just gave me a whole bunch of World War II stuff... "Pacific Theater."
But I know for folks who study these kingdoms, it is not an uncommon way of referring to them.

Sometimes the internet just does not cut it...

So there should be a moral responsibility for those creating these things to try to keep things fairly accurate.
 
That movie is PURE FICTION, Nothing but fiction, and should have a disclaimer at both the beginning and ending that it DOES NOT portray the acts of real people
 
That movie is PURE FICTION, Nothing but fiction, and should have a disclaimer at both the beginning and ending that it DOES NOT portray the acts of real people

Agree.

Too many times, the general public will see a movie like this and ASS-U-ME that it is the real thing. I have tried and tried to explain to people who ask me about my experiences what it is like and become frustrated when they use movie references. Bottom line, I think, is that people see this movie and automatically think that the are subject matter experts and pontificate about what it is like, when they have never been outside the U.S.

I have seen this movie and feel that it does a disservice to the brave soldiers who are in EOD, who risk their lives everyday doing what they do.
 
Agree.

Too many times, the general public will see a movie like this and ASS-U-ME that it is the real thing. I have tried and tried to explain to people who ask me about my experiences what it is like and become frustrated when they use movie references. Bottom line, I think, is that people see this movie and automatically think that the are subject matter experts and pontificate about what it is like, when they have never been outside the U.S.

I have seen this movie and feel that it does a disservice to the brave soldiers who are in EOD, who risk their lives everyday doing what they do.

Just like with all the Navy movies out here the general public ASSUMES that since I was a AD, that I never left a flight deck, well, with the job I had repairing helo's I hardly ever saw a flaght deck, but I've repaired helos in some of the most God forsaken hot LZ's in the world. Plus I did AMCM for a while too, and doing that I can tell you exactly what a WW2 German sea mine looks like 50 years later, the Hurt Locker reminds me of that stupid Three Kings movie.
 
Pretty stupid movie....Made it seem that there were EOD teams running around all over ready to swoop in !! God how many hours waiting for them to show up. In our area there was like 2 teams....More often then not shoot the **** out of it with the M-2 and be on our way.
 
Asked myself the question, why not shoot the bombs with anti material rifles and leave the area once the EOD team checks if all the explosives are neutralised.

It's way too risky to send a soldier there to check... Like the insurgent would let him diffuse it confortably...

So how can they make a movie about this if it's so unrealistic? I dont get it.

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And people will never be happy about what they will see about Iraq. And it could be worse if it's realistic.
 
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Pretty stupid movie....Made it seem that there were EOD teams running around all over ready to swoop in !! God how many hours waiting for them to show up. In our area there was like 2 teams....More often then not shoot the **** out of it with the M-2 and be on our way.


wow.... i'd never want to be under your command... why the **** would you shoot an ied? How do you know it isnt daisy chained? Theres a video floating around of the IA shooting IED's. I suggest you watch and learn.
 
At least, for all its worth, it doesn't give away any real-life techniques or drills.
Thats what keeps me happy about it.
And after all its just a movies.
Theres other war movies out there to feel insulted and self righteous about......
 
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