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Jun 02, 2016Nursebob rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
The title of director Kathryn Bigelow’s horrifying journey into darkness is GI slang for any severe injury sustained in battle. But injuries come in many different guises and if war is indeed a drug, as attested by the film’s opening quote by journalist Chris Hedges, then it is one of the most destructive of addictions. With the incisive eye of a documentarian Bigelow proves quite adept at maintaining an atmosphere of chaotic tension, switching from long strained takes to jiggling handheld verité as she recreates a dust-choked Baghdad of burned out cars and crumbled walls where half seen faces peer out of every recess and an innocuous pile of rubble could conceal a deadly threat. Under a scorching sun, their camouflage gear seemingly out of place amongst the market stalls and scrambling children, her characters move in a constant state of controlled anxiety knowing that any wrong move may prove to be their last. But as each man faces that heart of darkness which seems to saturate everything around them Bigelow presents three very different responses: one despairs over a life of quiet domesticity he may never live to see; one sees the nightmare for what it is and the knowledge preys upon his sanity; and yet another finds within the adrenaline rush a way to keep his own demons at bay. Not so much a war movie as it is a psychological treatise on the hidden casualties of battle, Bigelow takes great pains to avoid proselytizing to either side but instead allows events to unfold as they will. In the process she treats her audience to some haunting imagery—a soldier moves ominously through a pall of smoke; a setting sun turns blood red; a dead child lies sprawled on a kitchen table—and a powerful soundtrack of melancholy notes and apocalyptic wails. Its Oscars for Best Picture and Director were well deserved.