Some Thoughts On "American Sniper"

I never meant to write about this movie but while I was watching I was sending Facebook messages to my British half-Iraqi boyfriend (who was asleep) about how I was feeling about it at any given moment as a very politically left, anti-war humanist whose best friend happens to be a former marine and Afghanistan war veteran (a fact he often hides from people). Each break is a different message and aside from spelling errors I didn't change anything so it might sound like crap.

I've decided to be offended today so I'm watching American Sniper and will follow it with something animated. Ten minutes in and this is the most 'Murrica movie I've seen since Dallas Buyers Club. That movie ended with the cowboy giving medicine to gay men and hanging with a trans woman. I don't think this one is going that way I am a bit uncomfortable that they keep saying "bad guys" instead of "terrorists" I'm 99.9% sure leaving your post is a punishable offense in the military. Well, the first normal Iraqi character has been killed. "They're fucking savages." "You bought it from savages." The funny thing is, I feel like the story is not necessarily saying I'm supposed to like or empathize with the main character. i think he's an fucking ass and that's text; not my bias. Thoughts: Does no one make cerebral war films anymore? Will we never have another Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Platoon, Deer Hunter, etc.? This guy has no sympathy for any of this fellow solders who have doubts about what they're doing. None. The main character had a human response to a kid curiously picking up a rocket launcher. I cannot understand him at all. To take a measured response here: it is unclear whether the main character is intrinsically bad or a product of his military indoctrination. Perhaps he has been conditioned to believe these things and it is only in brief moments that his true humanity peaks through. I mean, the character, not the human. The human seems like he was just a flat out racist. The point I'm making is: I feel like this movie can actually be read more than one way. The fact that SO MANY are reading it as "Grr, rah, kill Arabs" says more about the people watching it than the movie which I could easily see being about how war is the real villain and we are all playing it differently. Watching this movie and imagining that the real enemy is idealism, both American and that of the terrorist, it's actually easier to watch than just trying to view it through a lens of "Awful people doing awful things" (and by that I mean either side being said awful people). In that sense, the Hunger Games issue is at work. The Hunger Games is promoted and merchandised in the way the Capitol would do, thus proving it's point. If this movie is actually about the horrors of war and the ideas of false glory and promoting of ideals, the fact that so many people think it's about "MURRICA and badassery just shows how fundamentally flawed the American mindset is. Main character is now calling his wife and saying he wants to come home, crying while things get even worse. Another notch in the column of "product of the system" over "bad person." His PTSD is powerful. Adam knew a guy who was in Fallujah and said he was one of the most destroyed individuals he had encountered. So he goes through a lot of therapy. This ending is overwhelmingly patriotic. I want to vomit. Okay, conclusion. Yes, the representation of Iraqis is fucking terrible. Yes, the "Woo, 'Murrica" is strong However, I feel like for a fair portion of the time, the film was trying to actually be a thoughtful meditation on the horrors of war. The problem is, it is trying to be filtered through a character who is blinded by patriotism, who criticizes other men for a more balanced outlook. The movie does a poor job of trying to show him as a victim (which is what I think the goal is) when the mood fluctuates so much between that and his own external idealism. Having not read the book I can't make this assumption but from what I've heard about it, he IS unsympathetic and this movie seems to be trying to reconcile the actual terrible human with a character who is multi-dimensional and the end result for someone like me who is a critical analyzer and someone who is anti-war and anti-nationalism is, well, confusion. That confusion seems to be allowing for interpretations on every side of the coin based on your own beliefs. Also, from a film perspective, the direction was good but the war scenes were poorly put together and it was blatantly manipulative but I don't know WHAT IT WAS TRYING TO MAKE YOU THINK aside from the few times they went for base human emotions with things like his wife's pregnancy and the aforementioned kid with a rocket launcher scene. I don't know with this shit. I guess overall it wasn't bad. Wasn't great (it was no Zero Dark Thirty for sure) and it really, really doesn't deserve a Best Picture nomination but I do think that anyone trying to view this movie through one lens is doing it a disservice. Yes, be angry that the perspective of the people who had their homes invaded when they were doing nothing wrong got no representation. Yes, be angry that the film is based on a book that glorifies war and demonizes Iraqis. Yes, be angry that somehow this movie managed to make 9/11 seem like a justification for the invasion of Iraq (haven't we gotten past this yet; I didn't believe that crap when I was 12). Yes, be angry that this movie is being interpreted by many people as a justification for their racism and an example of how cool and noble war is. But remember that even if you think the author (in this case I mean Clint Eastwood, not Chris Kyle) is dead, the text really doesn't show a simplistic view of war. It shows war through a man who is patriotic and unwilling to think about all perspectives but the movie is not. Or at least is trying not to. This man doesn't see decent people among the Iraqis. This man doesn't realize that 9/11 has nothing to do with Iraq. But I think we as an audience are expected to know better or at least learn from the other soldiers around him. We are supposed to see that even with all his bullshit ideals, he was ruined by his experience. War can destroy the most devoted of patriots. And I should stop now because I just ranted about this to you for a really long time. Here's a list of things I hate: Racism False news reporting War Really nationalistic people Teaching your children to hate PTSD People who think all these things are cool and inspiring instead of tragic.