American Sniper

Directed by

Clint Eastwood

Starring

Bradley Cooper

Sienna Miller

Luke Grimes

Jake McDorman

Kyle Gallner

You can pretty much guess where this film headed right from the beginning - a one-way ticket to Fiction Town. Step 1 - the twin towers are attacked. Step 2 - our hero signs up to be a Navy SEAL. Step 3 - he's shooting people in Iraq. Can we just clear something up from the off? Iraq had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. Not even the US propaganda machine could have spun that one. It's going to be a long movie.

American Sniper is the (ahem) true story of Chris Kyle, famous for being the most lethal sniper in US military history. Bradley Cooper, adopted an intense workout regime to bulk up and look like Kyle, when he wasn't busy being Tinseltown's latest darling and taking the world's most cringe-worthy selfies. He even spent much time with Kyle's widow to get a true feel for what it was like to be Kyle. As an exercise in acting, Cooper does a great job. They even say he refused to leave character for the duration of filming. Even when at home, he refused to be called anything other than Chris. Method acting is in these days.

Sienna Miller plays the girl-next-door-yet-unrealistically-hot-all-American love interest of Kyle. You begin to feel for her for falling in love with such an affable and charming young man but when the bullets fly, she sticks around. Despite questioning his work and demanding his return, when you turn a blind eye a lá Carmella Soprano or Skylar White, you are just as guilty as your sociopathic husband. Enable and facilitate but don't expect sympathy when ye both pull that trigger.

The movie is based on the autobiography of Kyle, written when he came home from war in Iraq (pronounced "EYE-RACK", obviously) about his time at the end of a long-distance weapon. To say that his actions in Iraq were glorified is putting it mildly. This is nothing more than a recruitment film for potential American soldiers. An expensively-made and expertly edited piece of propaganda to further increase the anti-Muslim sentiment that is the narrative of the western world right now. When you go to the cinema, you leave your disbelief at the door, you understand that what you are about to witness is a work of fiction. Indeed, this was a work of fiction, taken directly from the thoughts of a psychopathic murderer of men, women and children. This was not a documentary yet those who watch the movie will doubtlessly be enthralled and influenced by the message; America good, Muslim bad. 

Throughout the movie, Kyle's heroic murders are flanked by the altogether more evil murders of his equally skilled adversary, Random Parkour Sniper Guy. This is where the movie takes a turn off Racism Street and down into Ridiculous Avenue. Random is dark, mysterious, always up to no good and a defender of evil. His appearance is particularly ridiculous. As if we didn't already understand that he was a bad guy due to the colour of his skin and his patchy pubic beard, they gave him copious amounts of eyeliner to really hammer it home. THIS IS A BAD GUY. In fact, the only thing darker than his intentions and his skin is his weapon. Kyle's tool of choice to kill is painted in military livery, fresh, discreet, a classic design, whereas Random's weapon is slick black, as black as his heart and as bad as his evil intentions. It's like watching a James Bond movie! The modern hero versus the generic bad guy. If it wasn't depicted as being real, it would be humourous.

The movie comes out with such beauties as "I want you to put the fear of god into these savages" and "this is for god, country and family". When these lines are uttered, it struck me that perhaps the movie MAY be a subliminal and very realistic critique of Kyle and the invasion/occupation of Iraq. That, just maybe, they are giving us a gritty depiction of the evil behind genocide and the brainwashing that occurs to make a man leave his young family and fly around the world murdering people. Director Clint Eastwood has of course flown in the face of accepted narrative before, directing Letters From Iwo Jima. I toyed with the idea that perhaps this was a searing indictment of America's destruction of the Middle East, as if Eastwood had produced a more serious version of Team America. Could this really be a satire and a metaphor for the brainwashing of both the soldier and the American citizen? Cooper and Kyle's widow have spent recent months promoting the movie by touring the world, praising the heroic deeds of her husband. Well, there goes that idea! 

Any symbolism here is purely accidental and in the eyes if the beholder only. What a shame, this movie could have been a much-needed criticism of the engagements of the battlefield and the needlessness of death it brings. In fact, the only pity we feel is for our hero when he starts to suffer mentally from all the killing he witnesses. Only when his colleagues begin to fall does he begin to question what he is doing. In one moment of poignancy, a young soldier calls himself a legend, Kyle's moniker, to which Kyle replies: "That's a title you don't want, trust me." Don't be fooled, this is not guilt because of murder, this is guilt because of survival. We are expected to feel bad for Kyle. Are we expected to forget that he bravely put bullets in men, women and children for the entire movie?! 

In the movie, every single Iraqi is depicted as a terrorist (there's that word!) and having some kind of ulterior motive. The movie is completely ignorant to the fact that Iraq did actually have a trained army and peaceful citizens. Not every man, woman and child can maneuver a rocket-launcher and strap themselves with explosives. Then again, if it told the truth, who would read the book and who would watch the movie?

This film has two plus points. One is that it brilliantly depicts guerrilla warfare better than anything since Ché: Part One. Some of the fighting scenes are intense and are up there with anything ever made anywhere. Of this, Eastwood can be very proud. Secondly, the movie as a stand alone movie is actually quite engaging. You are pulled in and you begin to care about what happens to the main characters, be it support or the wish of capitulation. That is important in a movie.

However, the evils of this movie cannot be ignored. Journalist Rania Khalek described the movie as "racist atrocity pornography". It is a movie dedicated to the life and actions of a murderer, a racist, a killer of innocent animals for fun and a bigot. Chris Kyle killed 160 Iraqis in their own land and for what? Bradley Cooper, Clint Eastwood, Sienna Miller and everyone else involved in this movie should be ashamed of themselves.

If you want to see a decent movie about this time, this theme and this war, watch The Hurt Locker and avoid this dross. It has better acting, is a better movie and more importantly, knows it is fiction.

To quote Team America: "America - FUCK YEAH!"

Rating: ✮

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRbAXWfthtA

Team America trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPBX47zSktc