Mar 4 (THAINDIAN NEWS) A United States soldier, who served in the Iraq war, has sued the producers of the movie, “The Hurt Locker,” a movie which has won 9 Oscar nominations. He says the story is really about his life, almost word for word, and he seems to have a pretty valid argument!

The screenwriter of this movie, Mark Boal, was an embedded journalist with Sarver’s unit for a month in 2004. For those who may not know, what this means is that Baol stayed with the unit, writing his observations for a month, as the soldiers looked out for his safety along with their other duties. These journalists are not only very brave, but priceless in getting the story to us, however, many are saying that they do not accept embedded journalists into their camp only to have their story sold to Hollywood, as fiction.

While Baol, and the producers all claim that this story was entirely fictional, and was not based on Sarver’s life, there are quite a few very vivid similarities that simply cannot be ignored. Boal wrote an article for Playboy, which was also in the January 2006 issue of Reader’s Digest (the cover read, “ONE MAN BOMB SQUAD, for this soldier in Iraq, the mission is simple: Get it right the first time or die.” Page 166, written by MARK BAOL. This story is extremely close to the details in “The Hurt Locker.”

While the hero in the movie is portrayed as “blonde haired blue eyed trailer trash from Tennessee, Sarver is blonde haired, blue eyed, and lived in a trailer in West Virginia. Sarver says that even the title of the movie “The Hurt Locker” is a phrased made up by him. His call sign during his tour of duty, “Blaster One,” is the same call sign for the movie’s hero, Will James. Sarver says the movie is almost word for word his life.

So what does this soldier want? Well, I supposed what any of us would ask for. He wants his name in the credits, he wants recognition and appreciation for his acts of heroism, and he wants a part of the monetary benefits that he feels Hollywood will be making off of his experiences, and sacrifice.

Baol claims the screenplay is purely fiction and not based on his articles about Server. In a statement he said, “Jeff is a brave soldier and a good guy. Like a lot of soldiers, he identifies with the film, but the character I wrote is fictional. The film is a work of fiction inspired by many people’s stories, not the life story of any one person.” A lawyer for Sarver, however feels differently. “They literally transposed his life in the film and then claimed it was a work of fiction,” said lawyer Geoffrey Fieger. “The only fiction was the claim it was a work of fiction.”