“The Hurt Locker,” 20 August 2010, DVD. Tense from the get-go, this Oscar-winning, high energy Katherine Bigelow action flick about a bomb/IED disposal unit in Iraq starts at the letter K in this Mesopotamian alphabet. There is no “why?” Only what’s there at that moment for the men of this 3-person team in the war’s deadliest job. Very well played, written (well, a few glitches), photographed in Jordan, this war has no meaning. It’s a live video game where the enemy is everywhere and nowhere, where contractors (with a team brilliantly led by Ralph Fiennes) do the same work for vastly more money and where people disappear in a bomb blast leaving only their helmet behind. David Morse in a fine character bit as the Colonel. Still, it gnaws. No one knows/cares why they are there. Iraq’s “Apocalypse Now” in real time with Morse in the Duvall role, Jeremy Renner in the Martin Sheen role, and Anthony Mackie’s sergeant as the Chief of this Humvee/boat trip up a dry river. There is no Kurtz, of course. Addicted to the drug of war, some men just can’t give it up. Others want nothing more than to give it up. Can we as a people ever give it up?. Insane. A tough film to watch but worth the effort. It’s painful.