Conflicted Going In

Rating: 3/10 (8 January 2015)

I have to admit that i was conflicted going in to this one...i had read the book when it came out, and it left a very bad taste in my mouth. So for me watching the film was mostly an exercise to see what if any of the character of Mr Kyle would come out, because in the book, at least i was left not liking the man a whole lot.
The film...it cant possibly cover the material in the book in linear fashion, but would it tread the correct line and balance between the tours and killing and family life back home? Did it attempt to? Did it manage to? The answer on that is no. The film is primarily an action film with cutaways...thats been done before i hear you say, yes but the cutaway scenes lack any semblance of background set up, context or any real sense of satisfying displays of human interaction. Even the birth of his children is, to me, dealt with on an almost cursory level and like every other non-action subject secondary to the killing.
Did Mr Eastwood leave in some the objectionable parts of Mr Kyles personality, such as referring to inhabitants of the countries he served as "savages" and references to wanting to have killed more...yes. One wonders if this is what you hope it to be, balance and faithfully representative of the man, or an endorsement of those narrow minded views. Having seen Mr Eastwoods other films, particularly Gran Torino, where racial epithets were thrown left and right, in context i must say, making it the hardest to watch of any of his films (the first time around at least), and in the hands of any other director would have been incendiary, i choose to believe that the less attractive sides of Mr Kyles views were left in due to balance and and faithful representation.
There was a lot of license taken in the film as to locations of activity and the whole enemy sniper arc, Mr Kyle never killed the enemy sniper who's story is portrayed in the film. This alone is a disappointing event in what is based on his autobiography. That is the biggest plot hole though.
As to the actors, there's no faulting them, Bradley Cooper is solid and transfixing in this role. He almost made me forget about the flawed man he was portraying. And this is where we get the to the man behind the film and his flaws.
The actors are the only reason i rated it a 3.
Since this is based on an autobiography i feel its fair comment to address the person on which this is based.
This will no doubt be the longest part of this post, but i feel its important to address.
As i said, i read the book when it came out. Having been in the long range shot business myself in my countries service, i was aware of his reported feats and grabbed the book when it came out. It promised to be the best read about sniping since the books of the exploits of Gunnery Sergeant Hathcock, whos shadow looms large over anyone who has ever peered through a scoped rifle.
What started with high hopes and at times bordered on respect for the craft was quickly overpowered by the sense that this man was a sociopath who disliked anyone not draped in red white and blue, and that he had a bloodlust often expressing the wish he had killed more. The language in which he expressed his utter lack of willingness to view inhabitants of the countries he served as anything less than "savages" was just the start.
I know from my own experience when enlisting that, under the system in my country, Mr Kyle would have been weeded out as a potential sociopath or undesirable via the psych eval during the process to enlist, or if displayed at any point thereafter. And thats just basic admission, not officer candidate enlistment. My country has, i must say, a different process of enlistment, where it is more discerning about who gets through , when i was enlisting 25 years ago, i knew people who were having to repeat the last grade of highschool to improve grades to be accepted or to perhaps mature a bit more. During basic i saw more than few people shown the door as they seemed only interested in being in with the sole purpose of killing people, or on other occasions using colloquial derogatory terms to describe inhabitants of foreign countries. Those people were weeded out, never to set foot on foreign soil to represent their views wearing the badge of our nation, and im glad of it.
You can however end up with people like Mr Kyle, who loathed and reduced those who he faced on the battlefield to the level of referring to as savages, and with a hatred that transcends the fog of war and exposes a vein of both racism and ideological rejection.
Mr Kyle says in his book (and is paraphrased in the movie as saying) that he doesn't give a f@@# about the Iraqi people. Having served with, and know many of my countrymen who have served overseas, this is a strong component of their service, to improve the lives of the non-combatants of the countries they serve in. There's no hint of that from Mr Kyles own lips. This is for me the sign of a confirmed sociopath.
Where im not conflicted is finding out only at the end of the film that he was killed by someone with suspected PTSD, someone he was reportedly trying to help. No child should have the grow up without their father. My honest condolences go out to them especially on the loss of their father, who made it home, only to be taken miles from it.