Starring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie & Brian Geraghty
Film
Sergeant First Class William James (Renner) arrives in Iraq as the new leader of an elite bomb disposal squad. He’s a renegade, a cool and fearless character with an appetite for bombs. When he meets the rest of his team, Sergeant J.T Sanborn (Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Geraghty) they don’t exactly become bosom buddies. Tension builds between Sanborn and James to the point where J.T considers killing James. James’ track record starts to get hammered, things get ugly and James makes a pretty stupid decision which results in death and despair.
Review
The thing about this film is that, from the first scene, you don’t know which bomb is going to go off and which coloured wire is the right one to cut! It’s as if you are the one in the bomb suit, with your heart pounding in a life and death kinda situation (which you’re not, you’re really sitting in a comfy lounge, tucked under a warm blanket, sipping on a glass of red and chomping down on spring/egg rolls… right?). But as this film is shot like a documentary, it feels all too real.
This is not a feel good movie, most great films aren’t but considering the small budget and the hellish weather and the difficult location, full marks to Bigelow and her crew. The themes may not be pleasant to watch but it is storytelling at its best, so it’s worth at least one viewing because it tries to give a voice to those real soldiers and the people of Iraq, suffering, fighting and fearing for their lives on a daily basis and that must be worth two hours of your time!
Food
What to feed a host of sweaty, exhausted soldiers? Why, something from home, of course. Something with a golden crunch, with pork and a sneaky injection of veggies! So, if you’re going to tackle this movie, why not whip up a batch of these delicious Homemade Egg Rolls from Dinner at the Zoo! So yum.
Note: Thanks to Dinner at the Zoo for permission to feature their fab image and recipe link.
The Hurt Locker trivia
- Budget – $15 million
- Shot on location in Jordan where temperatures often reached 49 degrees celcius, and due to the small budget, cast and crew lived without air conditioning! Yikes.
- Bigelow is the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Director! Woo hoo.
- Unknown actors were hired for the main roles to increase the realism of the story and not distract viewers.
- It was difficult to hire a film crew because of the Middle Eastern location. Most were too afraid to go, even though Jordan is fairly safe.
- Controversy – in 2010 a bomb disposal expert from the U.S Army claimed that screenwriter, Boal based the main character on him, using his phrases and he tried to sue the film’s producers. He lost.
If you found yourself on the battlefield what dish would you crave?
More exciting movies with matching meals:
* Argo film with a Persian sweet
* The Artist movie matched with 1920s delights
* Slumdog Millionaire movie paired with Indian cuisine
Film and food 
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