15 Years Before House of Dynamite: Rated 4.1 out of 5 This is Kathryn Bigelow’s legendary war film that won 6 Oscars!

There are movies that surprise themselves by making history. Minesweepers, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, is one of them. Released in 2008 for just $15 million, this war film originally had only one ambition: to tell the daily lives of the people who signed up to fight in the Iraq War in 2004. There was no talk of politics, much less the removal of injuries. I just told the life of these young people, these “truffians” who went to the other side of the world to fight for their country.

Landmines will be a shock wave in the United States. Unanimously acclaimed by critics, it was also a public success and is today considered one of the greatest war films of all time. But above all, he scored for the first time. By winning the Academy Award for Best Director, Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win Best Director in American film history. It has never happened since. Sometimes, in fact, movies make history.

Reality VS Cinema

What’s amazing about Minesweepers is that it’s a war movie that’s not like the usual war movies. There are no big bad guys here, no victory on the horizon, nothing but sand and dust swirling around the faces of the soldiers, all played by unknown actors at the time. A mobile demining unit, going from charge to charge, is getting closer to death every minute to defuse them. They are not heroes, they could be us.

Written by war reporter Mark Boal, the film was inspired by his own experience working with US Army bomb disposal technicians during the Iraq War. The feature film was written as a tribute to the plight of his companions: “The idea is for this to be the first film about the Iraq War that aims to show the experience of the soldiers. We wanted to show what the soldiers are going through that we don’t see on CNN.”

A very tiring shot

Fascinated by Mark Boal’s work, Kathryn Bigelow immediately agreed to shoot his script, insisting on an approach that she wanted to be hyper-realistic.

The film was shot in Jordan, on the Iraqi border, with extras who were themselves refugees from the conflict. The costumes of the actors were the same weight as the real ones and were (intentionally) not air-conditioned. Therefore, the whole team had to work at temperatures above 45 degrees, like real soldiers in the desert.

Jeremy Renner, an actor now confirmed at Marvel, recalls the experience: “Boards of wood were falling from two-story buildings and hitting helmets, stones were thrown…we were shot several times during the filming. When you see this, you will feel like you have been in a war.”

War in cinema

While we’re not sure we approve of such a filming method, it’s impossible to deny that Minesweepers is one of the most stunning war movies I’ve ever seen. Simply because it is an “unpleasant” movie. Hollywood cinema, in its desire to reward society, often offers its films a satisfying ending, a victory for the heroes, a sense of achievement. Mine is nothing. And that is its power.

It is a terribly tense film, sometimes a rather slow film, which does not give you any comfort or reward. When a soldier goes to war, he does not return home because he has won the battle. He returns home when the battle is over. And the fight never ends. This is what makes Minesweepers a film that is tough and necessary. Perhaps for the first time, families of soldiers were able to discover the daily lives of their loved ones.

Yes, cinema is a dream factory. And importantly, it allows us to escape. But sometimes a movie should give us a chance to see. Minesweepers is a movie that makes you want to see war. And he won’t soon forget.

Minesweepers is available on Netflix until November 23rd.