General Odierno gives “The Hurt Locker” friendly review
As the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno must have on-the-ground knowledge of the American military teams that defuse roadside bombs in Iraq.
So it seems like high praise, indeed, that he complimented the Oscar-winning movie “The Hurt Locker” for how it portrayed the sacrifices made by bomb disposal soldiers in the Iraq war.
“I think what I like about it is, it shows, first, the camaraderie that is required here, the tension, the risk that’s involved in some of the jobs that we do here,” Odierno said in an interview with PBS Newshour.
“I’m sure many people would say it could be a bit more accurate in some areas, but I believe it’s a good representation of the sacrifice, dedication that it takes here in order to combat such a very difficult mission of terrorism and fighting a war on terrorism,” he said.
“The Hurt Locker”, an Iraq war drama about a team of bomb-defusing specialists, won the Oscar for best picture and placed Kathryn Bigelow into history books as the first woman ever to win the Academy Award for best director.
Photo credit: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson (Bigelow poses with her Oscar for “The Hurt Locker”)
As I have been to Iraq twice, as an infantry marine, and come back twice, I don’t understand the issue with the “cereal scene.” I don’t know if Death thinks it “spoiled” the movie, or what, but as a combat vet, that was THE most moving and instantly understandable moment of the whole movie. For any civilian who wonders why “war is a drug” or why the protagonist wanted/needed/or had to go back (regardless of his own opinions of the Iraq war) the “cereal scene” instantly captured, the moment i saw it, what it is like to come home from war. FOR ME, it elucidated that flat-out feeling of the over abundance and POINTLESSNESS of everyday materialistic society. How our society is jam-packed with imagery and glorification of pointless party-lives, social status, idolatry, and material shit. I have never felt more alive than when i feared that at any moment i could die. War gives life meaning, not bc you are serving some higher cause, but bc you come to realize, in the most personal way, that breathing is better than not breathing. It is as simple as that, it awakens you. Unfortunately, with extreme highs come extreme lows. You understand that there is no higher purpose, divine meaning, or purpose at all, for anything. Life is pointless, however, life is meaning. Whereas the protagonist is chasing that high that war gives him, his fellow sergeant (Sanborn) just cares to survive. For some, war is an elixir and for others, it is a smelling salt. To conclude, i found the “cereal scene” to be the most insightful part of the whole movie.