Oscar nominee Kathryn Bigelow fueled by relevance, realism in making “The Hurt Locker”
Kathryn Bigelow (Associated Press photo)
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Groundbreaking filmmaker drawn by relevance, realism
For director Kathryn Bigelow, relevance and realism fueled her through the making of her explosive Iraq War drama “The Hurt Locker.”
“Our feeling really was always to the give the audience a boots-on-the-ground look at life over there — and life as a bomb tech specifically, since it’s kind of a war of bombs, that’s sort of the modus operandi of engagement — and to really make a combat movie. Because it comes from firsthand observation, that was the intention of the entire piece,” she said of the fictional story based on embedded journalist-turned-screenwriter Mark Boal’s experiences in Iraq.
Her nail-bitingly powerful “The Hurt Locker” is more than just the best movie to emerge about the Iraq war. It stands out as one of the most thoughtful and thrilling war films in recent memory.
It has been honored accordingly: “The Hurt Locker” already has been named 2009′s best picture at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards, Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, National Society of Film Critics Awards, New York Film Critics Circle Awards and the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Awards.
The low-budget independent war film, shot in Jordan in just 44 days, also is tied with the mega-blockbuster “Avatar” for a leading nine nominations going into Sunday’s Academy Awards. Along with best picture, best original screenplay and best actor for star Jeremy Renner, “The Hurt Locker” is nominated for best director, and Bigelow has a real shot at becoming the first woman to take home the directing prize.
After all, she already has become the first female filmmaker to win the directing award from the Directors Guild of America and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
“She is one of the great practitioners of the craft not only because of her virtuoso command of physical action, but the way it grips for scene to scene. … But also so much of the action in her films is emotional action. As a writer and a director, She has a gift for giving characters real emotional depth,” Michael Cain, artistic director of the 2009 AFI Dallas International Film Festival, said in presenting Bigelow last spring with an American Film Institute Dallas Star Award.
That Bigelow, 58, boldly treads into cinematic territory traditionally held by male directors isn’t surprising. The painter-turned-filmmaker has taken on other male-dominated genres with her 2002 submarine drama “K-19: The Widowmaker,” 1991 surfer-heist actioner “Point Break,” 1995 sci-fi thriller “Strange Days” and 1987 vampire horror-noir “Near Dark.”
The California native said in Dallas she isn’t necessarily drawn to what some consider “boys’ films.” She just wants to work from strong scripts with “timeless, iconic characters.”
“You just work out of instinct,” she said. “You’re drawn to material for reasons that I think if it’s a conscious draw then probably it’s for the wrong reasons.”
She added she hopes the acclaim she’s getting with “The Hurt Locker” will “open a door, too, for other young filmmakers, who perhaps, like me, won’t take no for an answer.”
Sitting alongside Bigelow and Renner at the Dallas festival, Boal said, “I think it’s an interesting question about not so much why does she do movies like that, but why don’t more women do movies like that? Because that’s quite frankly where the majority of the movies … are made.”
“The Hurt Locker” showcases Bigelow’s gifts for building suspense, crafting astounding action sequences and telling stories with visual flair. It follows three men (Renner, Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty) in the Army’s explosive ordnance disposal squad, tasked with disarming the bombs strewn along Baghdad’s war-torn streets.
“I think that sort of opportunity to comment on or rather just present a situation that’s currently unfolding was pretty inspiring,” Bigelow said.
“That really was kind of a game-changer … having an opportunity to work with material that’s very authentic and realistic and then a cast that also felt that authenticity was the most important thing in addition to telling a story so that you were being responsible and respectful in terms of looking at how these men, to save countless lives, sacrifice.”
As a director, she tried to stay out of the way of the unfolding story.
“In my opinion, it’s really a story of courage and heroism. These men have practically the most dangerous job in the world. … That’s an inherently dramatic subject that as a filmmaker you kind of want to step out of the way and let it reveal itself,” she said.
“It definitely requires a certain amount of courage and heroism that is perhaps unthinkable to most people, and yet there are those people that when everybody’s running one direction will walk with great determination in the opposite direction in order to fulfill that particular mission.”
-BAM
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