The Hurt Locker tells the story of Iraq's lengthy, terrible, and horrific conclusion, an

asymmetric nightmare in which the military is unable to confront the enemy in any
significant way. Their mission is to conduct a series of patrols in which they are heavily
armored moving targets constantly threatened by what the British refer to as "roadside
explosives," a word that has since been replaced by the American term IEDs: IEDs are
bombs placed in the rubble that can be triggered as booby traps or remotely through the
phone. Head of a three-man bomb-tech unit or disposal squad, Staff Sergeant William
James.

Sgt Sanborn, played by Anthony Mackie, is his direct subordinate, an African-American who
is irritated by James's redneck bravado, and Specialist Eldridge, a young soldier who is
obviously disintegrating. It refers to the physical stress of repeatedly being in close vicinity
to the deafening blast of an explosion, whether controlled or not. With suicidal shows of
confidence, Sgt James is beginning to destabilize his troops. Rather than sending in the
remote-controlled "auto-bot" with its fixed camera to investigate possible bombs, James is
increasingly and impatiently striding into the Kill Zone himself – as Iraqi civilians stand by
impassively, some with video cameras, waiting for their "YouTube moment," as the soldiers
put it. James does not always put on the bulky body armor that would protect him if the
worst happened. Among the upper brass, he's developing a reputation as a "crazy man," and
they're not quick to chastise him.

They may surely sympathize with his death wish - it is a natural reaction, perhaps the only
logical response in some Helleresque sense, to point the finger at this losing game of
Russian roulette. They are terrified of him, but they are also enthralled and even inspired by
him. He has leadership abilities, in his wacky way. They also realize that he has the potential
to murder them all. So, with military dispassion, Sanborn and Eldridge must assess a
strategic option: killing James and making it look like an accident or enemy activity. That
obscene roar, as well as the tense anticipation of squeezed quiet, encloses you in a pain-
filled prison: the "hurt locker."