Since I saw The Kingdom, I've been through a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder seminar, heard the stories of a group of soldiers who've been to the Middle East, and continued to watch the stories disseminated by the news. I thought that The Kingdom was pretty "dressed up." It wasn't that all the "good" guys walked away scot-free, but the Jamie Foxx-fronted film still had plenty of "hoo-rahs" to go around, muting the sound of the terrorists' promise to "kill them all." More personal, The Hurt Locker delves into the anti-bomb unit or Explosive Ordinance Disposal team headed up by William James (Jeremy Renner, in a sure-to-be-Oscar-nominated role), J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie), and Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty), as they become integrated as a unit and deal with the constant stress of their situation, as well as the loss of fellow soldiers.

From what I've read, The Hurt Locker might as well have "based on a true story," just as well as half of the other movies out there that are framed around a situation or story. Based on the experiences of writer Mark Boal, who communicated with director Kathy Bigelow before there was ever a script, the movie has an intimate feel that doesn't glorify war or the people who find themselves knee-deep in it. You really begin to feel hot, sweaty, scared, brave, and everything in between. The tension leading into the first bomb situation, where the previous staff sergeant (Guy Pearce) dies, basically caused time to stop all around me. I couldn't imagine being in that situation, and I think that's part of the facade that the movie rips back: this isn't glorious, it isn't cheap, and it costs everyone involved.

That couldn't be clearer than when a boy that James had befriended ends up being used as the carrier for a bomb, and James basically has to perform an autopsy on the kid's body. It's sick. When he pursues that line of terrorism, he's entering a different area of conflict than the military seems prepared for in a hostile area, but it becomes much more personal than anything he's ever imagined. We're never really let "inside" the head of James, but Penner's portrayal is a special sort of intimacy. When he stands in the shower, complete in his gear, it's clear that the marks of war will never be completely erased (or washed off).

As the movie winds down (or in), James has two days left in the removal unit, and we watch him walk by the boy (was he real? or was he a figment of James' psyche?). But when he puts his life on the line in an attempt to save an apparent family man who has been harnessed in a bomb, it shows the best of what a true peacekeeper, a hero, would look like. Unfortunately, the film also makes it pretty clear that what soldiers are trained to do, what they experience at war, keeps them from a life of leisure and safety. There is no peace for Staff Sergeant James.

In that final exploration of why some people are wired for war and nothing else, James asks Sanborn, "Do you know why I am the way I am?" and neither one of them has an answer. The question they ask is one that mirrors the apostle Paul's statement, "I do not know why I act the way I do," or more straightforwardly, "I don't know why I sin when I don't want to." And here lies the rub of The Hurt Locker: some men are born for this, the stress and madness of saving others and keeping us safe, but it denies them everything else. What is their reward? What keeps them going? Is it the drug, the addiction, the rush? Or is it something more?

The same question can be asked when we turn from sin, when we turn from the way that things have always been, and we ask ourselves, "Why do some people convert to faith and others don't? Why is grace available to all but accepted by few?" The questions remain, hanging out there, even as we share our faith or don't, as we believe or don't, as we respond bravely in scary situations or don't. There's something there, just outside our grasp that provides us with the impetus to do more and be more than we thought possible. Is it the Holy Spirit's guidance or something more? You'll have to ask yourself:

Is it in you?