During WWII Warner Brothers had a hit on their hands with – wait for it – a series of instructional films commissioned by the US Army. The shorts, featuring the hapless Private Snafu, were pretty free of civilian censorship constraints and were wildly popular with soldiers. In this one, Private Snafu learns how – and how not – to survive in the hellish climate of Iraq.

Print Courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive

The Hurt Locker follows the assorted exploits of a United States Army Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) team during the most recent Iraq War. Gung ho and emotionally detached, though technically excellent, Sergeant First Class William James (Renner, in a career-making performance) creates friction in the tight three-man unit when he replaces the team’s leader. He particularly riles his number two, Sergeant JT Sanborn (Mackie), who favours a more cautious approach around large explosives.

Over the course of a series of defusings, spread over several weeks, the movie does an excellent job of introducing a wide range of combatants involved in the war. The EOD team encounter grunts, mercenaries, air strikes, snipers, militia and guerrilla-style fighters, as well as all manner of things that go boom. An excellent supporting cast fill the shoes of these small parts. The most memorable being Ralph Fiennes’s crew of soldiers of fortune; ex-special forces cowboys who are cruising around the desert picking up any face they can unearth from the US military’s infamous deck of playing cards.

The Hurt Locker is utterly engaging throughout. You could cut the tension with a knife during each of the film’s sequences. The only thing more riveting is the tension that builds between the characters that comprise the unit. These three men who would never associate with one another in the ‘real’ world completely and utterly depend on each other to survive every day of their tour of duty.

Finally, an Iraq war movie worth seeing (again and again) and worthy of awards consideration (3 Golden Globes nods and likely a swag of Oscar noms to follow).