It probably serves no purpose to discuss American Sniper with the ideologically
pure. They’ve decided going into the
theaters whether they were going to love or hate the movie. One camp decided you can’t criticize the film
while still being supportive of the U.S. soldiers. The other side has declared American Sniper jingoistic. Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone Magazine went so
far to pen an editorial entitled, ‘American
Sniper’ Is Almost Too Dumb to Criticize. Taibbi’s smugness is notable since Peter
Travers, Rolling Stone Magazine’s long time movie critic, gave the film an
extremely favorable review.
For those capable of independent thought, there is room for
debate about this movie. American Sniper is the 38th movie that
Clint Eastwood has directed since 1971.
The quality of his films has been wildly inconsistent, but many of his
films have been hugely popular. He has
been best in directing westerns such as High
Plains Drifter or Unforgiven. Many of his more recent films such as Letters From Iwo Jima and Gran Torino have been in my opinion sermonizing
and too melodramatic. Even potentially better films like Million
Dollar Baby and Mystic River have
been badly marred by Eastwood’s inability to tell a complete story.
American Sniper
owes a great deal to other films. Its
plot is similar to the underrated Enemy
at the Gates released in 2001. American Sniper
deals with a cat-and-mouse game between an American and Iraqi sniper while the
earlier film dealt with a Russian and German sniper during World War II. The movie American
Sniper will most likely be compared to is The Hurt Locker, the 2008 film directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Both movies deal with life-and-death decisions
made by American soldiers in Iraq who have difficulty dealing with civilian
life. In sentiment, American Sniper shares the same sympathy for the American soldier
fighting in foreign wars as did The Deer
Hunter released in 1978. While American
Sniper does not improve on any of these movies, it is an intense and
powerful film.
Chris Kyle, a real life U.S. Navy SEAL, is played by Bradley
Cooper. Chris marries his wife (Sienna
Miller) right before he’s sent off on the first of four tours of duty in
Iraq. Unlike Chris, his brother Jeff (Keir
O'Donnell), who also serves in Iraq as a soldier, becomes disillusioned with
the war. For his part, Chris becomes
extremely good at his job. Chris becomes
known as a legend in Iraq for his ability to shoot enemy combatants before they
can kill or maim American soldiers. It
is estimated that he killed 160 individuals during his tour of duty – most of
which he killed as a sniper on the top of buildings assigned to protect
American soldiers on the streets below.
However, he sees many of his comrades wounded or killed. Many are killed by a mysterious enemy sniper named
Mustafa (Sammy Sheik) who apparently had been a gold medal winning shooter in
the Olympics. During his final tour of duty,
Chris finally is able to kill Mustafa and then decides to return to civilian
life. (As an aside, I was told that there
was no real life Mustafa.)
Like so many other soldiers, Chris has problems dealing with
civilian life. He’s alarmed by sudden noises,
sits around and watches a blank television screen, and at one point overreacts
and almost kills the family dog. Chris
seeks counseling and begins to adjust to life by helping out wounded vets. We learn in the closing moments of the film
that one disturbed vet ends up shooting and killing Chris.
Bradley Cooper is tremendous in the lead role. In fact, he’s the only character in the movie
we get to know in any depth. Still, the
actors playing the soldier all do a good job playing their limited roles. Unfortunately, the role played by Sienna
Miller as the wife left at home shows little depth and detracts rather than
adds to the film. Most of her lines concern telling Chris that he needs to seek help.
While the battle scenes begin to blend into each other,
every scene is tense with anticipation. There
is little time during the 132 minute film to relax, and it gives us a good idea
what it must be like for soldiers in actual combat. Yet like so many American war movies going
back to World War II, we learn practically nothing about what anyone but the Americans
are thinking or feeling. We only see
glimpses of foreign men, women and even children trying to blow up American
soldiers. The reasons for why the Iraqi
War is being fought are never discussed.
Though American Sniper
is not a great movie, it is nevertheless an important one. No one predicted that it would be as popular
as it is. It has been smashing box
office records and been heavily attended by American soldiers and their
families. The movie has even served a
purpose is starting a discussion about the Iraqi War. Whether we ever have a truly intelligent
discussion remains to be seen. But only
someone with a completely closed mind who seems assured that they know all of
the answers would say it was “too dumb to criticize.”
January 24, 2015
© Robert S. Miller 2015
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