Synopsis

In Baghdad, an Explosive Ordnance Disposal team faces a relentless series of improvised bomb threats. After a new team leader arrives, his fearless and increasingly reckless approach to dismantling explosives strains the unit's fragile trust. As each mission pushes the soldiers closer to death, the film examines combat addiction, emotional detachment, and the difficulty of returning to ordinary life after war.

Factoids & Trivia

• The screenplay grew out of journalist Mark Boal's experience embedded with a U.S. Army EOD unit in Iraq in 2004. He later developed those observations into a fictional story about three bomb technicians.

• Although the story is set in Iraq, most of the film was shot in Jordan. The production worked under difficult desert conditions, with extreme heat and security concerns complicating the shoot.

• The bomb-disposal suit used in the film was authentic equipment. Its considerable weight helped make the characters' movements look slow, strained, and physically dangerous.

• The title refers to military slang for being placed in a situation of extreme pain or trouble. In the film's context, it also suggests the psychological state of soldiers drawn back toward the danger of combat.

• The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in September 2008, but did not receive its limited U.S. theatrical release until June 26, 2009.

• At the 82nd Academy Awards, it won six Oscars from nine nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing.

• Its Best Picture victory made it the first film directed by a woman to win that award. The same ceremony also produced the first Best Director Oscar for a woman.

• Despite its later awards success, the film was made on a relatively modest budget and earned much of its reputation through critical acclaim and awards momentum rather than immediate box-office strength.