Movies about the Iraq- Afghanistan wars are eliciting unusually intense interest these days, with Oscar Best Picture winner ?The Hurt Locker? and Matt Damon?s latest starrer, ?Green Zone,? showing the way.

Both movies may traverse pretty much the same thematic territory, but they turn out to be decidedly different viewing experiences. Those points of departure are instructive when seen prismatically, from various perspectives:

Military campaign

In ?Green Zone,? the focus is on the US military campaign in 2003 to prove that the then newly defeated dictator, Saddam Hussein, had huge caches of weapons of mass destruction squirreled away. The presence of the WMD caches was a major argument for the US invasion, so it was essential to the Pentagon that they be found.

After a number of attempts, US troops had come up empty in this regard, causing some officers, including Damon?s character, to question the veracity of the ?confirmed? intelligence reports that vouched for the caches? existence.

Thus, the film shapes up as an expose of an elaborate cover-up that makes viewers rethink their appreciation of the validity of the war itself. That big correction is an eye-opener, especially because it reveals that, within the US military itself, different forces were working at cross-purposes, instead of together.

That central conflict is dynamically and realistically limned, but the movie is a few years too late, because the harm resulting from the blithe cover-up has already been done. Still, ?Green Zone? serves the important function of presenting a more objective view of the conflict that took such a heavy toll in terms of soldiers? lives.

For its part, ?The Hurt Locker? deals, not with recent history, but with ongoing events and focuses on an even more cautionary aspect of the conflict in the Middle East. This time around, the specific point of departure is the dangerous but essential task of defusing bombs and land mines in urban centers in Iraq.

Opposite perspectives

It is instructive to note, therefore, that the two movies up for comparison are both about war, but view their material from diametrically opposite perspectives: ?Green Zone? is about dangerous weapons that don?t exist, while the bombs and land mines in ?The Hurt Locker? are about explosives that are all too real, and in fact kill and maim many victims to this very day.

In terms of relative significance, therefore, ?Green Zone? may have the wider scope, but ?The Hurt Locker? is superior in terms of specificity and relevant topicality.

It?s also the better film as a whole, because its acute reality and sense of danger is inexorable and totally in-your-face. No wonder it copped top honors at the recent Oscars.