Avatar or the Hurt Locker: Which One Will Win Best Picture?

Will the Oscar go to Avatar or The Hurt Locker for Best Picture? In a little more than 24 hours, the verdict will be in. These two blockbuster films are in direct competition for this year's Oscar award for Best Picture along with 7 others! This year's Oscar category for Best Picture has expanded to include 10 movies instead of the usual 5. With so many great pictures in the lineup, this year's Academy Awards promises to be an exciting night.

The Hurt Locker is favored among many to win the Oscar for Best Picture. What adds to The Hurt Locker's uniqueness is the subject content and the fact that it was directed by a woman, Kathryn Bigelow. Being a war thriller, it is quite surprising that there was a woman behind the scenes directing. In addition to Bigelow's nomination for Best Picture, she is also in the list of nominees for best Director of The Hurt Locker. Bigelow is also the ex-wife of Avatar's director James Cameron. This adds a little spice to the mix for this year's Oscar night. If Kathryn Bigelow wins an Oscar, it will be the first awarded to a female Director. She is certainly poised to make a little history here.

The well known movie critic [1]Roger Ebert called The Hurt Locker spellbinding in his review of it online, and that it is. The film shot mostly on location in Jordon within miles of the Iraq border. The film follows a US Army Explosive Ordnance Explosive or (EOD) team during the Iraq war. These US EOD team members are played by Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, and Brian Gerahty who minute after terrorizing minute face defusing bombs, the threat of insurgency, and building tension among themselves.

Mark Boal who wrote The Hurt Locker was a freelance writer who was actually imbedded with a bomb squad. The scenes in the film create in its viewers a feeling of actually experiencing what the team is. The use of cameras on the actors in the film create this sensation of actually being there with them. Watching The Hurt Locker is suspenseful and fast moving and the tension buildup never subsides.

This film embeds itself into man's mind. The opening statement in The Hurt Locker is from a quotation in a bestselling 2002 book by NY Times war correspondent and journalist Chris Hedges, [2]"The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, and for war is a drug." Indeed for some who serve in battle, in addition to being there to serve the Country and fight for freedom, also have a psyche that purposely seeks out compulsively dangerous circumstances. In fact, they only feel alive when they are facing fear and danger. The Hurt Locker's Staff Sgt. James displays this type of mentality, which leads to tension among other team members in the film who are more realistic than James. This intriguing dynamic and the non-stop suspenseful nature of The Hurt Locker make it a worthy competitor for an Oscar.

Best luck to the riveting war thriller The Hurt Locker in this year's Academy Awards. You have my vote!

[1]http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090708/REVIEWS/907089997

[2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hurt_Locker