The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker is a 2008 American war film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal. It stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, and Guy Pearce. It follows an Iraq War bomb disposal team who are targeted by insurgents and shows their psychological reactions to the stress of combat. Boal drew on his experience during embedded access to write the screenplay. The Hurt Locker premiered at the 2008 Venice International Film Festival and was released in the United States on June 26, 2009, by Summit Entertainment. It received acclaim from critics, who praised the acting and cinematography. It was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won six, including Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, and became the first film directed by a woman to win Best Picture. It grossed $50 million worldwide. The Hurt Locker is considered one of the most influential war films of the 2000s and the 21st century. In 2020, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Notwithstanding its popular appeal, the film has been criticised by Iraq War veterans as "absurd" and "nonsensical".