The Hurt Locker ceremony, it won six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director for Bigelow (the first woman to win this award), and Best Original Screenplay for Boal. "The Hurt Locker" is based on accounts of Mark Boal, a freelance journalist who was embedded with an American bomb squad in the war in Iraq for two weeks in 2004. The director Kathryn Bigelow was familiar with Boal's work before his experiences, having adapted one of his "Playboy" articles as the short-lived television series "The Inside" in 2002. When Boal was embedded with the squad, he accompanied its members 10 to 15 times a
The Palace (2011 film) action that rivals the highest Hollywood standards and on more than one occasion surpasses them with blitzkrieg duck n' cover staging.” "Filmoria"'s Richard Lennox wrote “What’s so special about The Palace is its ability to show both sides of the horror of war and at an essence the spirit of humanity against the atrocities of war ... an outstanding film which echoes a quality set by war films such as "The Hurt Locker" in style. Thought provoking, tense and thoroughly recommended.” Blake Howard from "The Co-Op Post" ended his review with "The Palace is one of the most emotionally affective