The Hurt Locker" wedges exes in time for Oscar Night

BRADENTON -- Much has been said about this acclaimed film from director James Cameron’s ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow.

"The Hurt Locker" has been nominated for nine academy awards,

"The Hurt Locker" has been nominated for nine academy awards, which interestingly enough pits the exes against each other in a race for best picture and best director at the 2010 Oscars.

Jeremy Renner once again shows his underappreciated acting talent in a portrait of a soldier in war.

Cameron is nominated for his recent "Avatar" hit.

It can be hard for us to comprehend the life of a soldier in a war zone. I’m not going to pretend I can even fathom what makes a human being want to move from his safe life into a hostile country, a place as comparable to hell as any wasteland can be.

The Hurt Locker, which follows the tour of duty for a member of Iraq’s Bomb Disposal Unit, manages to explore the sometimes half insane psyche of these men without passing judgment.

Staff Sergeant William James is a man both haunted by, and in love with the job he does.

He seems to love the danger he puts himself in each time he gets near an explosive, endangering himself not only to keep his fellow soldiers safe, but also to put his own life, his own mortality into a better perspective.

The duality within this man threatens to tear him apart, as he has to deal with his life at home, calling his wife but being unable to explain himself to her, and raising a son in a world that he sees as increasingly cruel and unkind.

When his son asks him about life, he replies, ”When you grow up, all those things you thought you loved go away, and your left with only one thing that truly matters."

But, ahem, what this is, at least for this soldier, we never get to know.

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