The Good American, the Bad Arab and the Ugly Movie...

Rating: 4/10 (22 December 2017)

In a Hollywood Villains' Special, the late critic Gene Siskel stated that movies like "True Lies" were predictable consequences of Arab terrorism. One could say the same about Clint Eastwood's war blockbuster "American Sniper" with September 11 as the moral alibi. The context is to blame, yet we blame the people, the film is no "Apocalypse Now" but Arabs are no Viet-Kong either.
I'm a huge admirer of Clint Eastwood and I've always avoided this film. Even in "Unforgiven", a movie I despised, the ruthless executioner had a few words about the men he killed. "American Sniper" doesn't bother and I almost admire its boldness. Chris Kyle, the titular sniper kills Arabs, but since they're all portrayed as heartless "savages", there's not even one millisecond allowed of ethical contemplation. Even in "Saving Private Ryan", for one moment, there was Steamboat Willie, although his sympathy capital was averted a few scenes later.
No such thing in "American Sniper", a film shot in Star-Spangled Banner colors, white for the purity of Americans, all noble-hearted God-fearing souls with great values such as family, loyalty and friendship, and red for the dirty bloodthirsty Arabs. No wonder the experience of the films inspired some enraged tweeters to go kill a few Arabs, after watching "American Sniper", you'd think you're doing the world a favor, I mean, is there any other community where mothers send their own children to death? Chris Kyle's best-selling novel didn't give much latitude for mercy, and neither does the adaptation.
Yet I somewhat felt engaged by the character study about the patriot who "did his job". And there's nothing in Bradley Cooper's performance that doesn't do justice to the legacy of Chris Kyle, he was an American Sniper, and well, he "sniped". But he had that alpha-male presence, towering over his comrades, lifting heights, even his son is the tallest of his school and is predicted to be 6'4 tall, this is definitely the best breed of men, which says even more about the "container". After all, doesn't Kyle believe that America is the greatest country?
Anyway, there are probably good Arabs who aren't all bloodthirsty savages but these are not the Arabs Kyle, or Eastwood, or any viewer was interested in. Fair enough. But even with that mindset, it was a close call before I decided not to press the "Power" button. Eastwood made the right choice by throwing the most offensive material in the first quarter because whatever happens to Arabs after that is never as insulting as this opening. The film starts with muezzin call and in the same time, you see a scarf-clad woman giving a weapon to a little boy. Notice that when the kid is shot, the woman doesn't even weep or take him in his arms, she takes the grenade... so she proves Kyle right.
Once again, after "Rules of Engagement", we have the obligatory portrayal of Arabs as savage people who don't hesitate to sacrifice their own lambs. And we have the obvious parallel between the muezzin and the illustration that Islam is rotten to the core, and then we have the sunny Texas, a good old church and a father teaching his sons not to fight unless it's called for. There are three people in the worlds: wolves=evil, sheep=blind or weak, and sheepdog. Guess who are the wolves? Cut to the Nairobi attacks and Kyle's engagement in the Army and of course September 11 immediately dissolving to Iraq.
So, we're supposed to believe that this war on Iraq was fair and driven by the patriotic fervor of American youth decided to avenge the innocent victims of September 11. Give me a break!
Yes, the film doesn't care about politics, but neither did "Apocalypse Now" or "The Deer Hunter" yet these movies dared to question the necessity of these wars. In "American Sniper", this is not even left as an option, just when you're trying to convince yourself that this war is pointless, there's an Arab or an Iraqi who makes it "personal". While we can focus on Kyle's conviction and dedication to the American flag, there's nothing that ever raises the question of the war's usefulness, why would he believe that killing a bunch of Iraqi would protect American families back there.
And even in 2014, we all know it was a bunch of lies. Please, Mr. Eastwood, why smacking all these grandstanding poses over our faces... ellipses are great narrative devices, but not at the expenses of intelligence. Violence wasn't taught in Iraqi schools! "American Sniper" was too one-sided it was painful.
The film wasn't even "bad" technically, but if you believe this is a masterpiece, keep in mind that any Iraqi director with half the talent of Eastwood could have made a similar movie from the other perspective, with a little focus on one jail torture or two. Eastwood's focus was Kyle and while he can't speak for himself, the man wasn't the fondest on Arabs, but the film makes no effort to show one Arab with one redeeming quality. I didn't expect "Battle of Algiers", but even "Inglourious Basterds" had good Germans!
Some say the Charlie Hebdo attacks' context didn't help either, but let me remind that in 2014, hundreds of civilians died in Palestine and no one gave a ****. So this is a real revealer of a disgusting hypocrisy. What is not tolerated for Mel Gibson, Clint Eastwood can get away with it... and right now, he's preparing his next movie about other terrorists attacks. Any occasion to show the ugly side of Arabs is welcome (and once again, the film was shot in my country, Morocco).
And what could have been an "interesting" reflection of violence's blindness, I mean by that the untimely death of Chris Kyle in 2013, well that he was killed by non-Arabs was one fact the film wasn't interested in. One-sided to the core... or as if hating Arabs was the best way to honor Kyle's memory.