The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow

The movie opens with its premise projected on a black screen.  "War is a drug."  And for the next two hours, we watch an adrenaline junkie stringing out a one life-threatening situation after another--and dragging his co-dependents along with him.  Primarily focusing on a bomb-defusing trio--James, Sanborn, Eldridge (played superbly by Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, and Brian Geraghty)--the film develops complex characters and doesn't resort to war-buddy or patriotic sentimentality.   

With a son preparing to start Army basic training within the month, I've been working to prepare myself psychologically.  In order to dislodge unsubstantiated preconceptions, I've been trying to absorb as much about this war as I possibly can.  This movie confirmed one of my greatest fears: not the dangers of war and combat but the dangers of bad leadership.  In addition to the war junkie who leads his men into unnecessary danger, we're also given brief glimpses of an officer whose moral bearings are skewed.  When he coldly disregards the military's conventions for treating prisoners of war, we're reminded why the American military is having such a difficult time ending this war.

This film is violent from start to finish, but not gratuitously.  Bigelow shows us a lot, but not so much that we think we can afford to turn away.

Highly recommend--but with a warning that the contents are disturbing.