The Hurt Locker - Where is Kathryn Bigelow?

I am wondering if anyone has detected a "woman's touch" in the academy award winning film, The Hurt Locker. It's a story that focuses on male protagonists, during the Iraq war... not your typical chick flick at all! So my question is this: Do you believe the gender of the director of this film is reflected in this film? And if so, how?

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Permalink Reply by Lauren Murphy on March 23, 2010 at 8:58am

You pose an interesting question. My initial response was NO but, as I started to think about it, it changed to MAYBE and then morphed to YES. Reason being is there really is only one scene with a female character and that is towards the end of the film when the main character returns home from the war. Her part was limited and was that of the "mother" and nurturer who held down her own proverbial "fort", i.e. the homefront. Despite the fact that there is now more women in the military than ever before, the fact of the matter that it is still male dominated and women still hold the traditional roles of wife and mother. Whether or not she works.

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Permalink Reply by Catherine Gray on March 23, 2010 at 5:29pm

I like the fact that a woman director chooses to tell a story that depicts a complicated, layered view of life as a soldier. There is the adrenaline rush that can never be matched in the relatively tame life at home. There is the thin line between bravery and recklessness. There is the scene of horseplay that borders on violent and tragic. I think the not-so-subtle nuances of the insanity of war come from the compelling screen play, written by a man and the vision of a female director. I loved the scene where he is searching for the family of the boy he thought had died. Remember that Iraqi woman? She was more threatening than any Iraqi men even though he had a gun!

I definitely see the hand of a woman on this war pic. I had to think about it to get to this. I think it's a powerful statement that a woman made a film which is not really considered a "woman's pic". It says again, "Life is a woman's issue". Female directors will not be taken seriously until they compete on male turf. But the goal, as in political leadership, should be for women to raise the bar within the genre rather than produce the same old mediocre schlock. I think Bigelow succeeded in doing that.