The Hurt Locker’s story offers an unflinching look at the hypervigilant anxiety and horrifying bedlam of war, but are its events based on a true story? Kathryn Bigelow’s 2009 war drama mainly follows U.S. Army Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner), who joins a new “EOD” (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) unit in Baghdad, Iraq following the death of the team’s former bomb tech. It’s his job to get up close and personal with different kinds of explosive weapons to disarm them and avoid as much damage as possible.
The position is as harrowingly risky as it sounds. But it’s clear that, during his time in combat, James’ uncertain, high-stress military job has started supplying him the adrenaline that he so desperately uses to cope with what he sees and has endured. The aptly chosen Chris Hedges quote at the film’s opening says it all: “The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug.” By the movie’s end–somewhat reminiscent of the psyche of Christopher Walken’s character in the horrifying, yet amazing and equally powerful, 1978 Vietnam War drama The Deer Hunter–life-or-death situations are all that can make James feel somewhat alive anymore. He had been institutionalized; war was all he knew.
It’s an incredibly potent and heartbreaking story, with an equally tragic and futile-feeling ending. After watching it, one can’t help but wonder if James’ story in The Hurt Locker is based on the experiences of a real person. And, in a way, it is. According to a 2009 article from The New Yorker, journalist/screenwriter/film producer Mark Boal molded the movie’s screenplay from a Playboy article he had written about his experiences observing a real-life EOD unit in Baghdad in 2004. He went out on daily missions with the team, and later said, “I realized if there was some way to replicate the environment of the war, even on a really basic level, just the sights and the sounds, that would be revelatory to people.” With The Hurt Locker, he did just that. While not based on any one specific person or story, the Jeremy Renner-led movie was instead a true accounting of many, inspired by the war experiences Boal perceived others to be living during his time in Iraq.
The film ended up being one of 2009’s smash hits, racking up a slew of awards for its directing, screenplay, editing, and more. But, even so, it also ran into its share of problems. It’s been widely documented that Sergeant Jeffrey Sarver, a real-life Army bomb tech Boal had interviewed while overseas, attempted to sue those behind The Hurt Locker in 2010 for allegedly using his likeness in crafting James’ character. It’s also been reported, by sources like ABC News, that Sarver additionally claimed to have coined the film’s title phrase and had gone by the call sign of “Blaster One” while serving in the war–the same call sign that James uses in the movie.
Ultimately, the filmmakers prevailed, and Sarver’s lawsuit against the partially true story-based war drama was dismissed and thrown out of court in 2011. Regardless of where one’s opinions fall on the issue of the suit, The Hurt Locker is an undeniably effective piece of filmmaking, simultaneously unnerving and moving. As with any war film, it’s drawn its share of criticism from veterans over the years regarding how some of its subject matter is portrayed. But the piece looks at the psychological effects of war from a slightly different angle than what’s commonly depicted, approaching it from an angle of addiction to adrenaline and chaos. Whether viewers like the movie or not, its haunting story sticks with a person long after the credits roll.
About The Author
