It was J Cole who said, “May your idols never be your rival”. After watching American Sniper, I had only one question: what the hell happened to Clint Eastwood? Let's dig in.
From his movies that he starred in Dirty Harry et al, you could tell Eastwood has an affection for the political right... yet his movies like Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Letters from Iwo Jima and Gran Torino show at least he can find a sweet spot between his ideologies and their fallacies.
In American Sniper however Eastwood makes his biggest propaganda film ever. Every cliché in the book about whitewashing American war stories is to be found in this film; the Iraqi’s are turned into the “faceless savage” .They become the unknown and feared “Other” to the American soldiers who we are supposed to identify with and are constantly humanized.
The fact that the weapons of mass destruction lie is so conveniently skipped in this movie as the rationale for the invasion of Iraq instead of the Twin Towers, just shows what kind of film this is. Whilst the Iraqi, whose country is being invaded based on a lie perpetuated by the US, is never humanized or given a chance to say how they feel about what’s happening to them or their country. They are not even sub-titled so we don’t even understand them if the interpreter does not say anything.
Eastwood makes them the face of fear, terror and torture - something the CIA report on torture released last year paints the US as.
Then there’s Kyle, the protagonist played aptly by Bradley Cooper, who bulked up massively for this role and is also the producer of the film. Kyle is the all American hero/tough guy, who does not talk much but is tough cause he's great at killing and “saving his fellow man”. Cooper does the strong silent type very well which goes against his current typecasting.
Yet it's quite ironic how Kyle, who has killed over 169 people according to the movie is a hero, but his antagonist, the “butcher” , who's doing the same in defence of Iraq is “evil”. We are supposed to identify with a dude who goes around with the logo of Frank Castle’s Punisher on his chest, shooting and killing little kids as our hero and feel his pain.
Whilst a man who's defending his fellow Arabs from an invading force is the bad guy!? Basically the US is the Evil Empire and the Iraqi are the rebels but somehow this movie wants us to root for the empire!? Its like watching those old English movies; like Zulu where we are supposed to identify with the English and see the Ama-Zulu as the savages whilst they're just trying to protect their sovereignty. So Kyle and the Americans are the cowboys and the Iraqi’s are the savage Indians - it’s sad that in 2015 we have movies with such logic.
American Sniper is very problematic and I guess hence it's one of Eastwood's coldest movies. It only seems to find something that resembles a heartbeat at the end but even that is so manipulative that it is nauseating. This movie would like us to buy that Kyle is a hero who sacrificed his family life for duty but the truth is this movie shows everything wrong with patriotism; it favours the single perspective, distorts facts to suit its own means and clouds judgment with emotions of belonging.
I’ve been a fan of Clint’s movies thus far but this is his weakest, with the least nuance - it's the least honest film of his I’ve seen thus far. One can only appreciate it if you buy into its half truths and team America world police politics. Other than that this film is insulting on many levels and it’s a shame its up for an Oscar. I guess American patriotism still sells in the US, I hope our people don’t drink the cool-aid too.
Rating **
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
index
* Junk **Almost bearable ***Now we cooking **** Almost perfect ***** Classic
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++