American Sniper - propaganda or not?

Rating: 7/10 (2 February 2015)

There seems to be an unwarranted amount of controversy surrounding Clint Eastwood's latest directorial effort, American Sniper. Many left-wing celebrities, feminists, and other liberals are crying "propaganda!" All art forms have the possibility to serve a political or religious agenda and many are meant to do so. From anti-war protest songs to Michael Moore documentaries to religious texts. I guess it's easy to forget that the main goal of art is to entertain. Two things about me: 1. When it comes to most political topics, I consider myself a liberal, 2. I am a huge Clint Eastwood fan. I am also, for the most part, anti-war. Most films about war can be considered anti-war films, but there are a few pro-war films. Those films might be considered propaganda, but at the same time might be considered enjoyable and even great works of art. Three movies off the top of my head that take a seemingly pro-war stance: Sergeant York, 300, and the latest installment in the Rambo franchise. The best of those, Sergeant York, is the one most blatantly a propaganda film. Yet, I still enjoy the film. So I believe that when you watch a movie, especially by a master such as Clint Eastwood, you should put your political beliefs aside as well as the political beliefs of the artist(s). It's perfectly possible to love the works of Ted Nugent and Sean Penn at the same time.
I've never read Chris Kyle's book. I don't know how closely Eastwood's film followed the book and I don't know how honest and true the book was. For all I know Chris Kyle was a great and kind man or Chris Kyle was a complete and total douche bag. Maybe he's a xenophobic, jingoistic, warmongering asshole. Maybe Clint Eastwood is one of those too. I don't know, and frankly I don't care because it is completely irrelevant to the point of this review or the point of American Sniper.
As I watched it, I was unable to put aside all the politics and pro-war sentiment stuff because I was searching for it. As it turns out, I was searching in vain. I could find no war mongering. I could only find a little of the flag-waving pseudo-Patriotism. The fact is, I found plenty of anti-war sentiment. It did not show me, in any way, that this war Chris Kyle and the others were fighting was just. It did, however, show the "War is Hell" theme common in almost all war movies, whatever their political leanings. Many of the negative reviews point out how all the Iraqis were called "savages." Yet, Clint Eastwood was not trying to say that all Iraqis are savages any more than Quentin Tarantino tries to say that all black people are n*ggers in Django Unchained. The characters in the movie use the word savages. I would guess that this is authentic language and an accurate portrayal of the folks fighting over there. I just can't find any basis for these negative reviews, that seem to judge the politics of Kyle and Eastwood more than they judge the film. Let's not forget that Eastwood directed Letters from Iwo Jima, a highly anti-war picture.
American Sniper is a solid film. Bradley Cooper gives a strong performance and Clint gives us another competently directed film. I did expect to see a little bit more snipering, as it were. There was some in the beginning and then not anymore until the climactic scene. Chris Kyle kept going back to war partially because he felt like he had unfinished business, and mostly because he couldn't cope with his regular life in the states anymore. This shows the negative psychological impact that war has on folks and how, much like someone who has been released from prison after years, they are unable to adapt to normal life. Kyle's inability to cope is similar to the main character in The Hurt Locker (a movie that was not branded as propagandist garbage or given bad reviews). This difficulty to conform to stateside life after being in war is further studied in films like The Best Years of Our Lives.
At first, when I saw Chris Kyle and his wife watching the tragic events of September 11th on TV, I sort of rolled my eyes and felt like that could have been left out. Looking back, I don't think it was used as a propaganda device, but rather shown as a motivational device to Mr. Kyle or just shown as an important event in their lives, as it was in all American lives. So is American Sniper patriotic? To be sure. Is it sentimental? At times it is, but great art often is sentimental (see Norman Rockwell or Charles Dickens) because it invokes those warm fuzzy emotions in all of us. I actually think that American Sniper was able to accomplish something remarkable, and that is it was able to tackle the subject of the second Iraq war without judging it either way, good or bad, just or unjust.
Bottom line, American Sniper is a good film, but it's not a great film. It can't touch Unforgiven or The Outlaw Josey Wales or Million Dollar Baby. I came into it curious about it's politics, but not obsessing over them. It was entertaining, and that is the first and most important thing one should consider when reviewing a film. Then you think about how it made you feel and then you think of how it looked and sounded and how well the performers performed and maybe lastly you can think about it's politics.
American Sniper is not as good as Sergeant York. It's not as good as Letters from Iwo Jima. It's not as good as The Best Years of Our Lives. American Sniper is as good as American Sniper and that's good enough for me. 7.5 out of 10