Passes the Bechdel test

The Hurt Locker

Name: The Hurt Locker
Released: 2009

2009. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, written by Mark Boal.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
2 women characters. 3 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 95.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

The film

An intense portrayal of elite soldiers who have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world: disarming bombs in the heat of combat. When a new sergeant, James, takes over a highly trained bomb disposal team amidst violent conflict, he surprises his two subordinates, Sanborn and Eldridge, by recklessly plunging them into a deadly game of urban combat, behaving as if he's indifferent to death. As the men struggle to control their wild new leader, the city explodes into chaos, and James' true character reveals itself in a way that will change each man forever.

Released: 31 Jul 2009
Genres: Drama, Thriller, War
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.5 / 10
Metascore: 95 / 100
Awards: Won 6 Oscars. 125 wins & 130 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

James 284 lines, man
Sanborn 208 lines, man
Eldridge 112 lines, man
Thompson 35 lines, man
Soldier 24 lines, woman
Colonel Reed 17 lines, man
Ambassador Geddes 16 lines, man
Sergeant 15 lines
Uprange 14 lines, man
Downrange 12 lines

Full cast, 34 people

Jeremy Renner as Staff Sergeant William James
Anthony Mackie as Sergeant JT Sanborn
Brian Geraghty as Specialist Owen Eldridge
David Morse as Colonel Reed
Guy Pearce as Sergeant Matt Thompson
Evangeline Lilly as Connie James
Ralph Fiennes as Contractor Team Leader
Christian Camargo as Colonel John Cambridge
Christopher Sayegh as Beckham
David Gueriera as First Sergeant
Nabil Koni as Professor Nabil
Sam Spruell as Contractor Charlie
Sam Redford as Contractor Jimmy
Erin Gann as Mortuary Affairs Officer
Malcolm Barrett as Sergeant Foster
Kristoffer Ryan Winters as Soldier at Intersection
J.J. Kandel as Guard at Camp Liberty Market
Hani Al Naimi as Iraqi Translator
Anas Wellman as Soldier at UN
Kate Mines as Soldier (uncredited)
Yousef Shweihat as Insurgent Sniper (uncredited)
Feisal Sadoun as Contractor Feisal
Barrie Rice as Contractor Chris
Imad Daoudi as Iraqi Police Captain at UN
Justin Campbell as Sergeant Carter
Ryan Tramont as Guard at Liberty Gate
Hasan Darwish as DVD Merchant
Wasfi Amour as Insurgent in the Stairwell
Nibras Qassem as Nabil's Wife
Ben Thomas as US Army Medic
Nader Tarawneh as Insurgent Sniper
Omar Mario as Butcher
Fleming Campbell as Soldier at Airfield
Suhail Dabbach as Black Suit Man

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 10% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 95

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers

Scenes	Women's lines	Men's lines
1 to 2	0	1
3 to 4	0	77
5 to 6	0	36
7 to 8	0	1
9 to 10	0	3
11 to 12	0	5
13 to 14	0	2
15 to 16	0	2
17 to 18	2	76
19 to 20	0	20
21 to 22	0	8
23 to 24	0	9
25 to 26	0	2
27 to 28	0	44
29 to 30	0	66
31 to 32	0	16
33 to 34	0	8
35 to 36	0	8
37 to 38	0	18
39 to 40	8	75
41 to 42	0	5
43 to 44	7	4
45 to 46	8	6
47 to 48	0	11
49 to 50	0	9
51 to 52	0	5
53 to 54	4	21
55 to 56	0	13
57 to 58	0	2
59 to 60	0	2
61 to 62	0	8
63 to 64	0	3
65 to 66	0	0
67 to 68	0	0
69 to 70	0	5
71 to 72	0	8
73 to 74	1	58
75 to 76	0	7
77 to 78	0	11
79 to 80	0	76
81 to 82	0	16
83 to 84	4	3
85 to 86	1	1
87 to 88	0	14
89 to 90	0	0
91 to 92	0	3
93 to 94	2	1
95 to 95	0	0

The evidence

Straight from the script
Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scene

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.

CONNIE O.S: Will, I can't wait until you come home. CONNIE: Will?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 5 are women's.

37 lines from women, 769 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

2 women and 20 men in the cast. 3 women and 19 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 188 of 900. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 258 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 4% of the words (327), men 96% (7,202). Women have 5% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.

Exhibit E: the test the other way

Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.

Conversations between two named characters

Two women

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

4 of the 19 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 15% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow (woman)
Written by: Mark Boal (man)
Produced by: Kathryn Bigelow (woman), Mark Boal (man), Nicolas Chartier (man), Jenn Lee (gender not listed), Greg Shapiro (man)
Shot by: Barry Ackroyd (man)
Edited by: Bob Murawski (man), Chris Innis (woman)
Music by: Marco Beltrami (man), Buck Sanders (man)
Production design by: Karl Júlíusson (man), Paul Joyal (man)
Costumes by: George L. Little (man), Vicky Mulholland (gender not listed)
Cast by: Mark Bennett (man), Lara Atalla (gender not listed), Laura Toplass (woman)