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From Waging Nonviolence via Salon,an excellent look at American Sniper, its protagonist and the culture that creates him.
Chris Kyle didn’t view Iraq like me and Garett, but neither of us have attacked him for it. He’s not the problem. We don’t care about the lies that Chris Kyle may or may not have told. They don’t matter. We care about the lies that Chris Kyle believed. The lie that Iraq was culpable for September 11. The lie that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The lie that people do evil things because they are evil.
The film “American Sniper” is also rife with lies. This was not Chris Kyle’s story. And Bradley Cooper was not Chris Kyle. It was Jason Hall’s story, a one-time actor in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and screenwriter for “American Sniper,” who called his film a “character study.” Don’t believe him. His movie is as fictional as Buffy Summers.
Update
And another soldier, a sniper himself, talks to Salon about the war he experienced — not Kyle’s war.
My unit had plenty of soldiers who thought like [Kyle.] When you are sacrificing so much, it’s tempting to believe so strongly in the “noble cause,” a belief that gets hardened by the fatigue of multiple tours and whatever is going on at home. But viewing the war only through his eyes gives us too narrow a frame.
During my combat tour I never saw the Iraqis as “savages.” They were a friendly culture who believed in hospitality, and were sometimes positive to a fault. The people are proud of their history, education system and national identity. I have listened to children share old-soul wisdom, and I have watched adults laugh and play with the naiveté of schoolboys. I met some incredible Iraqis during and after my deployment, and it is shameful to know that the movie has furthered ignorance that might put them in danger.
Thanks Will, I particularly like the comment that it doesn’t matter what lies Chris Kyle told (in real life), but what he believed about what he was doing in Iraq, and about Iraqis themselves. I haven’t been able to win over anyone who said,”but it was a well made movie” with the idea that Kyle was a liar. But, the fact the movie itself was and has inspired more hateful feelings of revenge is the most important point.
Thanks, Will, for such perceptive comments on the layers of dissembling in “American Sniper,” from its screenplay, through its director, and to its actors. I see people packing the theaters to see the film here in Texas, and when they come out, they feel liberated to affirm terrible prejudices, as when one of them said the other day, “I’d like to go out and kill a few ragheads right now.” We can’t let these kinds of people take over. We must continually speak out, as you have eloquently done. Thanks.
Lynn..thanks for stopping by. I’ll bet it was a jolt to see it with crowds so enthusiastic. It’ll be interesting to see what Eastwood makes of the responses, as he has said he thinks of it as an anti-war statement. Maybe he’ll do another film from the other side as he did in Iwo Jima…