MAN in the BOMBSUIT

There. I finally saw the 6-oscars-sweeper movie : THE HURT LOCKER. Sebuah film yang dapet pujian setinggi langit dari para kritikus (thus it got the oscars), tapi beberapa temen yang udah nonton duluan bilang.. it's kinda boring movie for it slow pace. Well, the pace was slow, indeed. The Hurt Locker is definitely not a wham-bam type of war movie. I didn't found its cinematography so artsy too. But after finished it, in my amateur opinion, i guess its near-to-reality picture of US Army in the middle of Iraq War was the strength.

My kudos goes to this main character, Sgt. 1st class William James, team leader of a U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal. His job is disabling explosives that scattered everywhere and could always blow the sh*t outta him but he's so cocky and reckless and heartless. Nyaris selalu mengacaukan ritme kerja tim dengan gayanya yang seenaknya. Tapi jadi menarik ketika James digambarkan ternyata sangat manusiawi, meskipun penggambarannya sangat subtle. Atas ketidaknyamanan menjalankan pekerjaannya yang sangat tipis batasnya antara hidup mati. Atas perannya sebagai seorang ayah. Atas perannya sebagai seorang team leader yang tidak akan meninggalkan anggota timnya. Atas perannya sebagai seseorang yang setiap hari harus melihat orang lain meledakkan diri karena bom bunuh diri. But somehow he just can't turn his head around, for..- like it written in the beginning of movie- .. the war is a drug. It made you a walking dead but have to struggle to stay alive.

Tentang tokoh William James, aku sepakat sama artikel yang satu ini. William James, diperankan oleh Jeremy Renner, yang juga sempat dinominasikan Oscar, membuatku ikut berkerut-kerut kening mikirin ini orang moodnya lagi gimana sih. Mungkin memang kerja di medan perang bikin pikiran jadi undefined and complicated and dazed and confused begini ya. Dan di artikel ini, kata Chris Hunter, the real bomb disposal, penggambaran William James di The Hurt Locker sangat mendekati realita, lebih dari penggambaran film Hollywood lain terhadap seorang ahli bom. Katanya, om Hunter sendiri sampai berasa berada di belakang mata si Sgt. James.

So this movie is about the game of emotion. You feel the tension while James cut the bomb wires one by one. You feel the language barrier between soldiers and local people are sucks. You feel the longing for home. You feel how it breaks you apart when you have to choose, whether it's your life or the lives of others.

Sampai disini aku merasa film ini memang layak menang Oscar. I like this movie, and i'll give it 3.5/5. Aaand, err, remember when I told you, i like guy in helmet and weaponry and special force's suit? Okay don't get me wrong, not kinda wild kinky fantasy, it's just like an apple of my eyes.

And this Sgt James, with crew cut and short bangs going sticky upfront (jabrik-jabriiikk..) and his gadget and his uniform and his sense of humanity wrapped in arrogance..

... and even in his bombsuit doing the Long-Walk...

... made me go ga-ga! *nailbiting* Aaaanw, maybe it called Long-Walk because in that suit approching the bomb, few minutes feels like forever, eh?

Okay, sounds good? So that's for today. Dila, over and out.