“The Hurt Locker” (2008), directed by Kathryn Bigelow, is one of the most critically acclaimed films about the Iraq War. This six-time Oscar-winning film follows a team of U.S. military EODs (Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technicians) as they wage a seemingly endless war against insurgents' improvised explosive devices. This conflict began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a US-led coalition that overthrew the government of Saddam Hussein, and ended in 2011 following a decline in violence and a reduction gradual American military presence. This film is praised for its accurate depiction of the conflict in Iraq, and while it fits several scientific features of modern conflicts, such as the "conflict trap" and hot climates, it diverges on a few points. In his novel “The Bottom Billion,” Paul Collier describes four “traps” that countries can fall into that perpetuate their poverty and put them at higher risk of conflict. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In “The Hurt Locker,” one characteristic that corresponds to contemporary conflicts is the “conflict trap.” Sometimes considered the most dangerous of the four "traps", it involves a repeated pattern of violence and war (civil war and war with other nations). The film is set in Iraq, a state with no shortage of violence and conflict in its history. Since 1917, Iraq has experienced occupation, civil war, international war, national revolts, coups and wars with other countries. These continual crises leave behind a society that perpetually suffers the consequences and creates the conditions for future conflict. Examples of such conditions include improved organizational capacity for war, weakened political institutions, and economic destabilization. According to Collier, the structural feature of a nation's violent history can not only be a powerful indicator of future conflict, but imply a cycle of perpetual conflict and violence. Another feature of the conflict seen in the film, as researchers have pointed out, concerns climate. According to a study by Soloman et al., “deviations from mild temperatures systematically increase the risk of conflict, often substantially.” The study results found that warmer temperatures increased the frequency of violence and conflict by up to 14%. In each of the 27 societies studied, conflicts most consistently respond to temperature, highlighting the positive relationship between high temperatures and increased violence. "The Hurt Locker" is set in Iraq, a Middle Eastern country in the essentially desert climate, where temperatures can reach up to 44°C. This structural characteristic of contemporary conflicts corresponds to the correlation between high temperatures and conflict. However, some features of the film do not correspond to the central characteristics of contemporary conflicts. One of these characteristics is that Iraq is not landlocked. Collier states that one of the factors that puts a nation at very high risk of civil war and conflict is its landlockedness and so-called “bad neighbors.” That is, if a landlocked country borders countries with poor transportation routes, the transportation costs to and from the sea for that landlocked country depend solely on the quality and cost of the neighboring country's infrastructure. They are, in a way, victims of their neighboring neighbors. In the event of conflict.