HURT LOCKER, THE 167
an unbearably exciting and meaningful existentialist enterprise compared to
“the tedium of American life, with its grocery- shopping, home repairs, and vapid
consumerism... For all the graphic vio lence, bloody explosions and, literally,
human butchery that is shown in the film, The Hurt Locker is one of the most effec-
tive recruiting vehicles for the U.S. Army that I have seen” (McElvey, 2009).
Reel History Versus Real History
Though it seems a convincing depiction of an EOD squad’s activities during the Sec-
ond Iraq War, veterans found the film rife with exaggerations and inaccuracies. In
an interview with James Clark for Task & Purpose, a news website for veterans, Kol-
lin Knight, an Af ghan i stan War veteran and former EOD technician, detailed a
list of the film’s misrepre sen ta tions, starting with a key scene where Sgt. Will
James uncovers six 155-mm artillery shells wired together into a massive IED.
Knight: “And he just lifts up six of them, all daisy- chained together for no good
purpose... You’d never do that by hand, it’s amazing that he did... How the f—
is one arm that strong to just pick up all of these 155s?” Knight went on to note
that each shell can weigh between 70 and 100 pounds. Though it makes for grip-
ping cinema, Knight avers that a real EOD tech would never do what James did:
“You don’t know what you’re doing, what’s in there, which is why you don’t just
pick s— up by hand and toss it around. Which is why we stress using robots and
doing things remotely and slowly and cautiously, instead of just ‘Oh s—, I just found
a bunch of them, I’m gonna pick them all up.’ ” By the same token, Knight finds
the film’s daredevil cowboy characterization of Will James patently absurd: “For
the s— that he does he could easily lose his certification, end up in prison, or get
completely removed from EOD. Realistically it wouldn’t happen. He would not
exist.” Knight also found fault with James’ nocturnal pursuit of the Iraqi professor:
“Nobody does this. It simply doesn’t happen. It makes no sense, and anyone who’s
ever served in a post-9/11 warzone prob ably reacted to that scene the same way:
What the f—?” (Clark, 2016).