A Bit Misunderstood

Rating: 7/10 (3 July 2016)

American Sniper, the name alone will either rally your sense of nationalism or make you roll your eyes as a propaganda piece. First of all, regardless of how you view the subject matter, I think we're all in agreement that Bradley Cooper absolutely nailed this role. As far as this films controversies, I tend to lean liberal but did not view this film the same way most liberals do. I feel like much of the hate this movie garners, is because of the location the story is set in, the Iraq war. By now we've all accepted the absolute disgrace that war was to America, but this movie isn't telling the story of the Iraq War. Instead, this film is telling the story of a soldier who served in it. A soldier who sees the amount of combat Chris Kyle saw has a difficult road and inevitably develops a complex character. One scene struck me more than any in the movie, during the scenes in between his tours it often showed Mr. Kyle sitting in his living room watching film on the war, while his wife asks if he can turn it down. Further into the movie he is again sitting in his living room, we don't see the TV yet, but we hear the incredibly loud and unmistakable sound of war. As the camera slowly pans around till it ends up behind Kyle, you see him staring at a turned of TV. No more film, no more wife telling him to turn it down, because he carried the sound of war inside his own head at all times. If anything this movie should encourage Americans to not only step up the care we provide our veterans, but also make sure our leaders aren't sending them into the wrong wars. Chris Kyle made a sacrifice, his wife did as well, and his children were subjected to this sacrifice. I believe this sacrifice is no less powerful due to the mistakes our leaders made, because if they had chosen the right war Chris Kyle would have gone all the same. We can recognize this sacrifice without endorsing the war. Because this film isn't about the war, it's about Chris Kyle, and it's one hell of a film