I have been wanting to catch this movie for a long time. Way before it won 6 Oscars, and beat James Cameron's Avatar hands down at the ceremony, the movie has been doing a limited release in Singapore. It was more like an indie movie than a blockbuster. But the movie's premise is stunningly unforgettable - what if you work in the bomb disposal unit in Iraq? What if you cannot make an error in your job? And why are you in Iraq anyway?
In the movie, I love the way the actors portray the Iraq people - they stared coldly and dispassionately as the Americans went about maintaining peace and order in their fractured lands. It is like the Iraqi locals were watching a curious circus act breezing to town except that the American soldiers were fighting for their own lives and at the same time, paradoxically, protecting the lives of the Iraqi. And the message was stark - what is the point of disarming this bomb when they would figure building something nastier tomorrow? What's the point of it all?
Yet the movie has little melodrama. It has no psychotic sergeants, no Rambo-ish grunts and no double-crossing generals/politicians. They are professional soldiers doing their jobs as best as they can except that the war is almost unwinable if you classify building a bomb using Radio Shack parts as a war in the first place.
The movie started with the quotation "war is a drug". The protagonist was only truly alive when he was disarming bombs. And I found a lot of resonance there especially my money hunter deal making buddies. Many had asked me - why don't you get a normal job? Normal as in a 9 to 5 job, suck up to your bosses and associates, write some meaningless fanciful "action" minutes of the meeting or business development reports in which nobody reads but someone has to write, attend a conference in which you want to know everyone important in your field and everyone there feels likewise, be caught in a traffic jam like a million others and breathe a sign of relief when you arrive before the boss, to sing badly and clap enthusiastically as your customers/directors/bosses finish their songs - what's the point of it all?
We don't disarm bombs. We probably don't do well in a real battlefield. But a normal job is horrendously tame. And that's why we do deals, specifically listing companies and M&A. We feel alive dealing with the complexity of a due diligence process, the long ungodly hours at pouring thru documentation, analyzing spreadsheets, solving problems, the endless negotiations with auditors, lawyers, bankers and the authorities. And the smell of fear. That things will be totally wiped out if you don't pull thru. That all your months of work will go up in smoke. That all your best contingency plans will fail. But when everything clicks in place - it is like a complex symphonic piece played to perfection despite the surrounding sea of chaos and changing demands. And you hold the baton- that is pricelessly addictive.
Harold Fock
In the movie, I love the way the actors portray the Iraq people - they stared coldly and dispassionately as the Americans went about maintaining peace and order in their fractured lands. It is like the Iraqi locals were watching a curious circus act breezing to town except that the American soldiers were fighting for their own lives and at the same time, paradoxically, protecting the lives of the Iraqi. And the message was stark - what is the point of disarming this bomb when they would figure building something nastier tomorrow? What's the point of it all?
Yet the movie has little melodrama. It has no psychotic sergeants, no Rambo-ish grunts and no double-crossing generals/politicians. They are professional soldiers doing their jobs as best as they can except that the war is almost unwinable if you classify building a bomb using Radio Shack parts as a war in the first place.
The movie started with the quotation "war is a drug". The protagonist was only truly alive when he was disarming bombs. And I found a lot of resonance there especially my money hunter deal making buddies. Many had asked me - why don't you get a normal job? Normal as in a 9 to 5 job, suck up to your bosses and associates, write some meaningless fanciful "action" minutes of the meeting or business development reports in which nobody reads but someone has to write, attend a conference in which you want to know everyone important in your field and everyone there feels likewise, be caught in a traffic jam like a million others and breathe a sign of relief when you arrive before the boss, to sing badly and clap enthusiastically as your customers/directors/bosses finish their songs - what's the point of it all?
We don't disarm bombs. We probably don't do well in a real battlefield. But a normal job is horrendously tame. And that's why we do deals, specifically listing companies and M&A. We feel alive dealing with the complexity of a due diligence process, the long ungodly hours at pouring thru documentation, analyzing spreadsheets, solving problems, the endless negotiations with auditors, lawyers, bankers and the authorities. And the smell of fear. That things will be totally wiped out if you don't pull thru. That all your months of work will go up in smoke. That all your best contingency plans will fail. But when everything clicks in place - it is like a complex symphonic piece played to perfection despite the surrounding sea of chaos and changing demands. And you hold the baton- that is pricelessly addictive.
Harold Fock
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