Clint Eastwood embraces Chris Kyle's toxic ideas

Rating: 1/10 (7 February 2015)

Three weeks into American Sniper's record-breaking release, you likely already have an opinion on the film, even if you haven't seen it. In a tweet, comedian Seth Rogen famously compared it to "the movie that's showing in the third act ofInglourious Basterds," whereas documentarian Michael Moore called it a "mess of a film." The debate has largely focused on the portrayal of Chris Kyle, American Sniper's protagonist. Eastwood and screenwriter Jason Hall depict him as an "anguished soul" (in the words of author Max Blumenthal), torn between saving his country and the weight of deciding who deserves to die.
But the real-life Kyle was anything but tortured and morally conflicted. The Guardian's Lindy West (also a contributor at the Daily Dot) reminds us that Kyle was "a racist who took pleasure in dehumanizing and killing brown people." Kyle's only regret was that he didn't kill more.