Hurt Locker = war propaganda film or fair & balanced?

[rocketpig]

sapphi_snake said:

rocketpig said:

sapphi_snake said:

rocketpig said:

I felt the exact opposite way when I finished watching the film. I felt for the soldiers and the predicament they were put in the film. It all seemed rather pointless.

So, in your OPINION, it's a pro-war piece. In my opinion, it's neutral to anti-war but mainly, it's a character piece.

Isn't that the point of good art? To challenge perception and let the audience take from it what they will? Maybe both of us are right, maybe neither of us are right.

But to definitively say that the film is pro-war is, frankly, bullshit.

Why are the Americans over there? Should they be there? Is there any point to the war?

That's all that matters. The personal tragedy of the soldiers doesn't.

In your opinion. You DO realize that people are allowed to have dissenting opinions on subjects, right? And that your OPINION is not gospel... right?

Of couse they are. That doesn't change the fact that they're blind to what really matters (in MY OPINION, I gotta mention this;  you sure remind me of an annoying judge on The Good Wife).

But why don't you explain to me why you have the opinion that you do?

Soldiers join the military for many reasons; some good, some bad. Some join because of a bloodlust or because they have a screw loose (the lead character in the film), some out of obligation for their country. They don't choose where they are assigned, they don't choose what wars they do fight or don't fight. Some may disagree with the Iraq War but have faith in leadership and want to serve their nation so they join anyway. Some join in peacetime and are sent into an impromptu war they didn't choose.

Soldiers, like the rest of humanity, are a varied mix of people who join for different reasons. The same way I despise the terrorist bomber who destroys a public market, I may feel sympathy for his family who shelters him because he's family and are injured or killed because of it. Why should soldiers be any different? Your vilifying of them and talking about them as if they're all mindless robots is no different than any other kind of broad, sweeping demonization.

I feel sympathy for humans who are put in a shitty situation, even if it was "of their choosing" in a second-hand sort of way. And there's nothing wrong with that. Do I like all soldiers? Hell no, just like I don't like every member of any group of society. On the other hand, I'm not going to classify them all as evil or idiotic, either.

The Hurt Locker did a good job of displaying various people in the military; some crazy, some sane, some good, some bad, some fucked up, some just keeping their heads down and waiting for it to be over. Bigelow didn't burden the film with political posturing (which would have been INCREDIBLY easy given the subject) and opted to tell the story of a soldier. That's why I like it. It was about as far from propaganda as I've seen from a war film. Some of it was ugly and some of it wasn't... and it was up to the viewer to do with that what they pleased. That's about as far from propaganda as it gets, in my opinion.

PS. I didn't start this argument over opinion versus fact. You were the one busting other posters for stating opinion as fact while you were guilty of it yourself.