Pro-war propaganda? Did we see the same movie?

Rating: 8/10 (20 February 2015)

I am utterly baffled by the litany of accusations leveled against this movie as jingoistic, propaganda, racist, etc. Did we see the same movie? I saw a moving, utterly convincing and surprisingly neutral portrait of a soldier who did what he thought was right, and struggled with the consequences of the life he had chosen. The absence of any taking sides about whether his decisions were valid or not was actually conspicuous in the film. The protagonist returns to a country where he finds it difficult to fit in, and complains about its lack of understanding of what is going on overseas. His health is placed in danger, his family is strained, and he obviously suffers psychological damage. And this is pro-war propaganda? Strange propaganda indeed. Moreover, other characters in the movie provide voices for those who thought the Iraqi war was just madness, and judgment is not passed on them either. The style of the film is stark, realistic, totally convincing - and remarkably devoid of side-taking. Hence, I find the outburst of indignation against the movie shocking. On a technical level, the battle scenes are amongst the best ever done, transmitting the sensations of stress, anxiety and fear in war. Cooper is simply stellar. The drama he lives at home is somewhat predictable, and clichéd, but quite well done, and, again, devoid of judgments about who is "right". Ironically, those who obviously hated this movie because of its alleged bias, are really revealing their own extreme prejudice against any movie that does not have a clear anti-military, anti-war agenda. Anything else is, apparently, "propaganda" in their eyes.