Unlike most previous films depicting Iraq, “The Hurt Locker,” which opens here Friday, stays away from politics. Instead, the story focuses on the lives of troops who had the most dangerous job around: defusing mines (improvised explosive devices) that became the No. 1 killer of soldiers in Iraq. The film uses Hitchcock-style suspense techniques to keep the tension high, but how does it fare on accuracy? And is this the new “Top Gun” for specialists in explosive ordnance disposal (EOD in military parlance)?

If so, it’s one hard sell. POLITICO watched the film with Capt. Robert Busseau, an EOD administrator, and EOD team leader Sgt. Michael Wells — both stationed at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., and part of the 20th Army Support Command (CBRNE), which is known for handling anything that blows up.

The movie tracks a three-man team through the final days of its rotation in Iraq in 2004, just as the use of mines was increasing and teams, such as the movie’s Bravo Company, were in short supply. The three soldiers take repeated calls to investigate piles of rubble. To root out the ever-more-complex bombs, Staff Sgt. William James (Jeremy Renner) dons a bomb-blast suit and heads directly to the devices. His teammates remain on the lookout for Iraqi insurgents who could trigger a blast on a cell phone or other remote device. Director Kathryn Bigelow emphasizes the exacting patience needed by the specialists — and maximizes the element of surprise.

According to Busseau, the overall look of the film is spot on — from the village scenes, shot in Jordan using Iraqi refugees as extras, to the kids who call out “gangsta” and surround soldiers’ cars.

In the film, the EOD techs were definitely “more cowboy,” more willing to take risks than they are today, said Busseau. In real life, an EOD tech who operates like James does — clipping wires without knowing exactly what the wires are — would be blown up or fired, he said.

But it also shows the public some of the ugly ways in which insurgents have actually tried to trick American troops into approaching a bomb. In one scene, an explosive is placed in the chest of a dead child — a ploy that appeared, sadly, all too real.

The movie “takes some liberties,” said James O’Neil, the executive director of the EOD Memorial Foundation. It relies perhaps too heavily on the bomb suit, which, with its bulbous helmet, looks like antique scuba gear.

The suit itself is one of the first ways of weeding out candidates for explosive ordnance work. Even stateside, the temperature in the 80-pound getup rises pretty quickly, and it tends to close in on those prone to claustrophobia. “In Iraq, you could be in the suit for several hours per day,” Busseau said, but as the heat mounts, the suit closes in. “Guys fear they can’t breathe.”

These days, EOD teams use robots nearly all the time to neutralize explosives. In the movie, a robot makes just one fairly feeble appearance in the opening scene.

The screenwriter for the film — which takes its name from the gray box in which a team member’s personal effects are stored — was Mark Boal, who was an embedded reporter in Iraq for Playboy in 2004. He has also written the story for the message-heavy “Valley of Elah,” which earned Tommy Lee Jones an Oscar nomination.

If there’s anything that the filmmakers overemphasized, it is the aftereffects. Busseau said — with a roll of his eyes — that everyone in the film seemed to have post-traumatic stress disorder, but it’s hardly universal.

Despite any quibbles, the film is being embraced by the EOD community, which is pleased to bring some attention to its little-known heroes. The website for the Pentagon’s Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, the special group set up to scope out new mine-defeating technology and lead detective work in Iraq, is linking to reviews of the movie.

The EOD Memorial Foundation fielded a call from the film’s promotion department asking if it would want to use it as a draw for donations, an offer O’Neil didn’t refuse. He said the foundation sees the movie as a way to promote the sacrifice of its 4,000 specialists, whose death toll was again on the rise.

“We’ve lost close to 50 people,” O’Neil said, recalling the heroism of men like Marine Sgt. John Fry, who did have to wear the bomb suit in his attempt to save a retarded child with IEDs strapped to his chest. And those are the kinds of people who join EOD, O’Neil said. “We’re very committed to our purpose.”

After dipping to a low of six in 2008, seven have died so far this year, O’Neil said. Now that the number of blasts has declined in Iraq, it’s on the upswing in Afghanistan, and EOD teams remain in demand.

Though this film celebrates bravery and duty, the guys from the 20th Support Group don’t expect it to be a recruiting flick for explosive ordnance specialists — nor do they recommend it as pre-deployment viewing for first-timers.

What’s a better film before shipping out? “G.I. Joe,” said Wells.