The Hurt Locker The Other Quotes

This is an early example of the kind of us vs. them feelings that the troops have for the people of Baghdad. Even though we're sure that most of the people using that road were not part of efforts to blow up U.S. military personnel, Thompson is imagining punishing the bomb-makers by blowing up their road.

As Sanborn is trying to monitor Thompson's progress toward a bomb, a guy comes up and tries to chat. It's not clear whether this guy is trying to interfere with the EOD team's activities or just annoy Sanborn (or, you know, be friendly—though in this case, it doesn't come off as such, necessarily). In any case, Sanborn isn't having any of it.

Thompson has laid the charge to destroy the bomb and is heading back when Eldridge spots a guy with a cell. The EOD guys don't like seeing people with cell phones since they assume the phone could act as a detonator. Can you imagine if every person you saw with a cell phone seemed like a potential threat? That's what these guys are dealing with.

(And sure enough, in this case, it is a detonator. The Iraqi guy standing near the butcher shop blows up Thompson.)

This is Will's comment after pulling a gun on a cab driver who drove into the middle of their operation. After holding a gun to the driver's forehead to convince him to reverse out of the area, other soldiers force the guy out of the cab and onto the ground. So, Will is pretty sure that if the guy wasn't already anti-U.S. forces, he is now.

We are pretty sure the guy in question was a sniper who had shot at a car Will was working on. The soldier tending to him thinks he could live, but Colonel Reed insists that he won't. It basically comes off like the colonel doesn't think the guy's life is worth even thinking about.

The EOD team has to constantly watch the people who are watching them to make sure they aren't up to something, which means that they basically view all civilians with suspicion. In this particular instance, they don't love that a guy is pointing something directly at Eldridge, even if it is (supposedly) a camera.

This exchange comes after Will believes they've come across the body of Beckham, a local boy who had been hawking DVDs outside their camp. Will is sure it's Beckham, but Sanborn isn't. On the other hand, to Sanborn, "they all look the same," so he's not positive either way. Between that and Eldridge's "base rat" comment, we're getting a glimpse into the not-so-nice attitude Eldridge and Sanborn have toward the Iraqis.

In order to find the people responsible for the death of "Beckham," Will pulls a gun on the DVD seller and demands that he take him to the appropriate people. He thinks the guy has been pretending not to speak English...but as he discovers when he gets to his destination, the DVD seller clearly had no idea where Will wanted to go or what he was looking for.

The language barrier between the Iraqis and the soldiers creates an extra layer of complication in sticky situations like this one. Will is trying to get a bomb off a guy, but the guy isn't really complying with instructions, and a translator is mediating between them...stressful stuff.

After the translator and everyone else has run away because the blast is about to occur, Will has no way of actually communicating with the guy. He really wants to apologize to the guy for quitting on the bomb, but the guy doesn't speak English. However, he clearly figures out what's about to happen when Will runs away.