The battle lines for this year’s best film and best director Oscars have been drawn between two movies that could hardly be more different: the bombastic, big-budget epic, Avatar, and the low-key Iraqi war thriller, The Hurt Locker.

As much as I enjoyed Avatar, I’m rooting for The Hurt Locker, if the choice is to be between these two films. Though Avatar is notable mostly for its technical achievements, The Hurt Locker throws in a few bonuses such as good acting and a decent script.

The Hurt Locker, an indie film made on a shoe-string budget, has already collected more than 40 major international awards. It lost out to the crowd-pleasing Avatar for the best drama category in the Golden Globes this week.

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker is a simple and focused war film that often brings to mind the terse machismo of Sam Peckinpah and Don Siegel, the great 1970s action directors that she name-checks as influences. It’s equally effective as a character study and a war film.

The Hurt Locker was scripted by Mark Boal, a reporter who was embedded with an Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team in Iraq in 2004. It hones in on one of the most distinctive features of the conflict in Iraq: the constant danger civilians and American troops alike face from roadside explosives, suicide bombers and car bombs.

The film steers clear of the complex political questions surrounding the Iraq War, instead turning its gaze on the day-to-day lives of three soldiers in an elite bomb disposal unit. These units have the highest mortality rate among American troops in Iraq — Bigelow is mostly interested in how her characters live with the threat of impending death hanging in the air. As she says in an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, there are no politics in the foxhole.

The commander of the unit is the brilliant maverick, Sgt William James, who is played by Jeremy Renner (28 Weeks Later and The Assassination of Jesse James). Renner’s character brings to mind the bank-robbing, adrenaline junkie played by Patrick Swayze in Bigelow’s 1980s cult classic, Point Break.

TRIVIA: Kathryn Bigelow, one of Hollywood’s few female action directors, was briefly married to Avatar director James Cameron during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Hurt Locker is her first film since 2002 when her career was torpedoed by the spectacular commercial failure of the Harrison Ford vehicle, K19: The Widowmaker.

He is the best at what he does, but he has little regard for the procedures that the other men in his unit live by. War isn’t hell for James: it’s a rush. He seems to fear domesticity more than death as he recklessly throws himself and his unit into the line of fire.

James is backed up by Sgt JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie), a consummate professional who does everything by the book, and Specialist Owen Elridge (Brian Geraghty), an impressionable and openly fearful rookie looking for guidance from his superiors. Most of the film’s dramatic tension comes from the complex interplay between Sanborn and James, as their relationship swings wildly between grudging respect and animosity.

Excellent performances from all three actors — but especially Renner — give these three stock war movie characters depth and believability. Though he is a man of few words, one can sense the madness and intelligence behind James’s steely gaze — as well as hints of compassion. Better known actors such as Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pearce shine in smaller supporting roles.

Bigelow’s technical craftsmanship elevates The Hurt Locker beyond its station as a genre film. She carefully ratchets up the tension as the bomb squad moves about the dangerous streets of Iraq, aware that they could die at the hands of an insurgent sniper or bomber at any moment. Then, she punctures it with an incendiary action scene or defuses it as skilfully as James does the many explosive devices he encounters during the film’s running time.

The camerawork by Barry Aykroyd, a cinematographer who worked on films like United 93, is especially praiseworthy. His handheld camerawork draws you into the film, especially during tense set pieces like a prolonged sniper battle in the scorching desert sun.

There are moments when The Hurt Locker doesn’t ring true. Some of the more fanciful action scenes feel at odds with the naturalistic presentation of the film; occasionally I found it hard to believe that a soldier as undisciplined as James would survive long in a war zone or escape disciplinary action.

But those are minor points. The Hurt Locker is a topical, intense and intelligent action movie that will be remembered in years to come as the first great film about the Second Gulf War and the subsequent American occupation of Iraq. — Lance Harris, TechCentral

The Hurt Locker is expected to make a belated appearance on SA cinema screens sometime this year. Alternatively, it is available on import DVD and Blu-ray from the usual sources