Hurt Locker and a Prophet

shekhar

I guess my impressions of Hurt Locker was colored by the brilliant ‘A Prophet’ I saw the same day.
Was Hurt Locker good ? Of course it was. It was well shot, modern and created a lot of tension in the four (or is it five) sequences that the film is built up of. Was the performance good ? Yes, adequately good. But if you look at the performances in ‘A Prophet”, Hurt Locker did not really get near.
Good film Hurt Locker, yes. But is it outstandingly the best film of the year ? No. Despite the predictable script Avatar is. Because I saw in it the film makers vision, heart and belief. Did Hurt Locker really give me an insight into the minds of the young American Soldiers in Iraq ? No. It was the adrenaline addicted bomb demolition Hero I have seen so often disguised in two scenes, one in the shower with him crying and the other in the helicopter where his friend is blaming him for almost getting him killed.
I guess part of my reaction was the way the Iraqi’s are shown. Each one of them was a potential terrorist. If one is making a serious film about the Iraq war, then we carry the responsibility to attempting to discover some of the reality of it.
My vote for Avatar as best film of the year. For it believes in a future with hope, without meaning to be something other than that.

10 thoughts on “Hurt Locker and a Prophet”

  3. Dear Shekhar,
    Didn’t see the mentioned films yet but of course saw the Avatar. Truly inspiring work of art even if the story is predictable. It’s like your vision of Bandit Queen, where audience knows the story before coming to the theaters but still they walk away with more than what they came in with after the film ends.
    As a film maker, it is the most inspiring film to me so far. Creating a 100% imaginative world was just par excellence.
    I always wanted to experiment with an action scene like a Bond film but I didn’t have any resources for that. When I saw Mr. James Cameron in one of his interview, where he told about creating the Pandora by filming on green screen and adding lots of special effects and animation afterwards, that was a great moment of inspiration for me as an artist.
    I just picked up my camera and mimed some actions on a green screen, which took hardly 10 minutes.
    And then the whole Game ran for 8 hours on my computer to generate the location, explosions, blood, special effects and background score. But finally it was done. And I was able to see the scene what I was imagining without any resource. If I would not have seen Avatar and had not listened to his interview, I still would have sitting and thinking “How to do it?”
    You can see that scene, I made on the link below. It’s up on the YouTube. I hope you will like it.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tHwvzyEP8A
    Best of Regards!
    Sanjay

  4. Yes,I agree with you Shekhar brother Avatar was a better one.For its making, effort, and the theme.Although said 100 times we need to send this message strongly again. ‘SAVE OUR PLANET’.

  6. I don’t get awards, i don’t get critics and i don’t get reviews. As a wannabe filmmaker at heart(..sigh!!) i am constantly in awe of people who create beautiful movies, who put life to their imagination, successfully or unsuccessfully doesn’t matter. Then a group of guys get together and rank and rip them apart. They compare apples to oranges and declare a winner. I dont get it.

  7. You are correct. HL is a good movie but not worth an Oscar for Best Film… Best director – maybe but surely not best film. So is there a political agenda behind the jury to give some recognition this way to the soldiers in Iraq…? may sound like a conspiracy theory but hey its possible rite!!

  9. Speaking of Films, I always wondered what happened to Bombay Dreams, I auditioned for it in Toronto, I landed to lead role, but it completely fell through,
    I really enjoyed every moment of that audition and it really inspired me to write films, and to dance. After that audition, I felt like a whole new person, even though I was never a trained dancer I had a lot of fun, and I believe thats what got me the role.
    It really changed my life, so to speak. Now I have written 4 screenplays, one which i recently sold, and I have 7 years of Bollywood Dance Experience from Shiamak Davar, in Toronto Ontario.
    I want to say thanks to Mr. Kapur for creating this beautiful concept of BOMBAY DREAMS, weather it is a flop to the eyes of many people it is a true inspiration for me.
    I would love to write Bombay Dreams for the Big Screen if given a chance.
    Prem
    premsingh99@Hotmail.com

  10. Just came across your blog and I apologise for the late reply.
    “Did Hurt Locker give me an insight to the minds of young American soldiers in Iraq? No.”
    Because it is not in the scope of this film to look into the minds of these soldiers like the other film, In the valley of Elah. It’s not a film about Iraq war, just uses that as a tool. It does not go into the purpose (or the lack of it) of this war. Just into the mind of this guy who can’t help putting himself in danger. That does not mean it is inferior to In the Valley of Elah, which deals with the effects of war on young minds. The same logic applies to the other argument about the portrayal of Iraqi people in the film. Ideally, Green Zone should dealt with all this, but that film was a disaster.

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