Runtime: 2 hours, 12 minutes
Rating: R
Director: Clint Eastwood
Quick Impressions:
Okay, so it only took me forty years to get back to the theater, but I finally managed to catch a screening of American Sniper, and now I’m the last person in the continental United States to see it. (Better late than never, though, right? Right???)
I know I haven’t reviewed a movie in over two weeks, but I actually have a pretty good excuse. First my daughter was sick for a full week with an unidentifiable “febrile illness” which according to two separate swabs was not the flu. Then I got a really nasty bladder infection (despite having just recovered from one caused by a different bacteria). Then I got my daughter’s virus which in me quickly became rather alarming tonsillitis which morphed seamlessly into a horrible bacterial throat infection. Plus I’m seventeen weeks pregnant and struggling with perhaps just the teeniest, tiniest smidge of anxiety. Even now that the tonsils have improved significantly, it’s hard to want to sit through an over two hour movie when I’m pregnant and have recently endured four UTIs. Also my left leg is partially numb, I’ve pulled a muscle in my back somehow, and I have a history of preterm labor, so I’m really about fifteen seconds away from a panic attack at all times.
Perhaps because of my delicate condition, I could really relate to a number of scenes in this film—the gender reveal phone call meltdown, the unexpectedly alarming blood pressure reading, the general vibe of post-traumatic stress.
In the weeks that I’ve been away from the theater, I’ve been soaking up tons of media buzz about American Sniper. My dad is always watching either Headline News or Fox News, and since I’m sitting there on the couch in a delirium of illness, I get to watch it, too. Plus when I’m too distracted to accomplish much, I typically spend a lot of time reading online articles on my phone. For the past few weeks, every media outlet I’ve encountered has been really pushing the American Sniper controversy.
The words “conservative” and “liberal” are pretty slippery and easy to misapply vague meaning to, but they’re a convenient shorthand to use in an informal discussion. So for the sake of brevity, I’ll say that I’ve seen the conservative coverage and read the liberal coverage (without bothering to unpack or define those tenuous labels), and before I even saw the movie, I already was pretty fed up with both sides. In my experience, Oscar related controversies creep up every year, are always ridiculously overblown, and usually manage to increase revenue for one film while bolstering the awards chances of a competitor.
Now that I’ve seen the film, I can say that there’s nothing shockingly controversial about American Sniper—other than the basic subject matter (and maybe the realization that Clint Eastwood actually expects us to believe that “baby” is a real, human child). The notion of just war is always controversial, and surely we all know by now that at least half the country believes that we should not have been in Iraq again in the first place. But this film is really just a typical war movie, quite well made, thoroughly entertaining, well-acted, with subject matter that is and should be disturbing on some level.
I actually enjoyed watching American Sniper.
This is a weird year at the Oscars. Normally bloggers, pundits, and critics kind of drive the nominations by calling the Academy’s attention to certain films with their predictions. But this year, so many of the films the pundits have been pushing all year missed, as if the Academy suddenly woke up and decided, “No thanks!”
(This probably happened because of the change in voting rules. Members voted only for their top five films, meaning that if even the entire Academy ranked a film #6, it could not be nominated for Best Picture, even though up to ten spots were available.)
But anybody who is actually surprised that a film directed by Clint Eastwood debuted at the last minute and got several nominations (including Best Picture) clearly does not follow the Oscars.
The Academy loves Clint Eastwood, and let’s face it, he often makes movies that real audiences of average Americans enjoy watching and will pay money to see. That ought to count for something.
I thought American Sniper was entertaining, thought provoking, and coherent, which is more than I can say for some of the prestige pictures this year.
The Good:
On my dad’s side, almost every one of my male cousins has served in the military in some capacity, so even though I’m a bookish, creative, weakling type, I’m more sympathetic to the military than you might imagine. In fact, one of my cousins is currently in the Marines special forces and has just deployed again, earlier than expected.
So if you give me my intellectual ideals, sure I’m a pacifist who believes that war is wrong and violence is never truly moral. But in real life, I’m not going to dismiss or discount the contribution of our military, and if someone were coming to torture me with an electric drill, I would hope to God that someone bigger and stronger and on my side were coming, too.
Is Chris Kyle a hero? I’m sure the men whose lives he saved think so. On the other hand, the families of the people killed no doubt have a different take. That’s reality for you—so vast and incomprehensible until you apply your own narrative lens.
But if what you’re really wondering is whether you should see the movie or why Eastwood even made it, then the “hero” label doesn’t matter. The movie is important because it depicts events that actually happened—and are still happening as a part of daily reality for many people.
It is a thankless job to fight for your country these days. The element of this movie that really resonated me was Kyle’s inability to readjust to civilian life between deployments. What he says to his wife as he’s driving down the road about how people in this country seem absorbed in unimportant, trivial stuff while overseas there are people facing death at every second in war zones—that’s the age old problem of going to war and returning to civilization. But it’s a bigger problem now than it’s been in some other eras because currently the wars we fight are all overseas and largely invisible to most of our population. Survey 100 people on the street, and I’m sure you’d quickly find at least 50 completely unaware that any military actions were even happening.
I thought constantly of The Odyssey while watching this movie. Unlike Odysseus, Kyle doesn’t get the luxury of a ten year homecoming to detox after being in the war zone. He goes back and forth in little bursts, so that he’s never fully present when he’s home. And in general, nobody cares where he’s been. He doesn’t get a hero’s welcome. The war is not a reality for most Americans the way it is for the soldiers who serve in it.
Sienna Miller’s character is pretty far from a patient Penelope, too. One tour of duty seems to be her limit. She hates Kyle being away, and I don’t blame her. I get stressed out when my husband spends too many hours at a time working at his computer in his office (which is in our house).
A repeated complaint of people opposed to this film is that it lionizes Kyle and fails to raise crucial questions about the morally problematic nature of his situation.
Those people must have seen a different movie than I did. Kyle seems profoundly damaged by his work to me. The movie may not ask the hard questions, but surely you can ask them for yourself, right? No adult would watch this and think, “What a swell life! He and his wife are so happy! He adjusts to life at home so seamlessly! What great blood pressure! And all those dead guys whose lives were cut short—they’re so happy, too! Good thing he got that little boy tortured to death! What a small price to pay for learning someone’s name! What an uncomplicated situation! How glorious is war!”
(I think being home sick has brought out my sardonic side for sure.)
But, come on, the guy spends half the movie in a zombie trance. He never expresses his critical thoughts, his doubts, his fears. He doesn’t say much of anything, in fact. Self-examination will be his undoing. He knows it! He says so to his wife when he blames a letter for his friend’s death.
In a sense he’s right. The battlefield is no place for contemplation. You have to act, react, follow orders, remember your training, act on instinct. If you develop moral compunctions, doubts, hesitations, you will be killed.
Ask anyone who runs an army. Say, “Who would be your dream recruit?” Then see how many exclaim in delight, “Socrates!” You do not want a philosopher on the front lines in charge of pulling the trigger. Even Aristotle recognized the difference between the active and the contemplative life and saw value in the active life. (To put it in movie terms, Kirk is the one who needs to command the Enterprise, not Spock. Too much measured reflection can be paralyzing.)
When people rail against the movie in print, I sometimes want to scream, “I’m sorry that the content of this film didn’t dovetail with your research interests, but other people get a point of view, too.”
Is this movie factually accurate? Probably not. It’s based on Chris Kyle’s memoir, his personal reflections on his life, so it’s going to be told from his point of view. And he’s a guy who voluntarily chose to enlist and serve four tours of duty overseas as a sniper. So if you wouldn’t make that choice, chances are Kyle has a different take on life than you do. Sorry.
Eastwood does turn a critical eye on Kyle’s life if you ask me. He shows us right away how Kyle got these ideas he has about patriotism drilled into his head by the Bambinator (his father). Now Eastwood passes no judgment on these views which is good in my opinion. (Bennett Miller would give us a house full of stuffed deer and make young Chris Kyle into a jittery Norman Bates type. ) But just because Eastwood lets the father give these lectures on sheep/wolves/sheepdogs and God, country, family doesn’t mean he’s forcing the audience to adopt similar views (though he also doesn’t say we can’t). He’s simply providing the context for why Kyle thinks the way he does.
The big lesson I took away from this film is that I never could have been married to Chris Kyle. Sienna Miller’s character was the most sympathetic to me. That scene when she’s just revealed the gender and he’s getting shot at—her reaction there is how I’ve felt this entire pregnancy. I need emotional support. I could not cope with a pregnancy while my husband was away for months and then emotionally absent even when he was home.
I look at Kyle and see a man who is emotionally stunted, tormented by an ideal put into his head by a demanding father with unrealistic expectations. Why should it be Chris Kyle’s job to save everyone? For him, the answer is because he can. I think that’s a bit of a dodge, a way of not dealing with some issues with intimacy/maintaining relationships. I think half of his justifications are a form of BS he would never recognize as such. But I also think that he believes he is telling the truth about his motivations and that his behavior is consistent with his worldview. He’s a decent man who lives according to the ethics he was taught.
In a sense he is a hero. I would call his need to be a hero a psychological problem, but all that means is that Kyle and I would never get matched up by eHarmony. We aren’t compatible. Still, the country needs Chris Kyles—more than it needs me. I don’t do anything.
Is Kyle a hero? Certainly. What is a hero? What do our heroes say about our society? Those are the controversial questions. The film isn’t generating controversy, merely reflecting it. Our society is really polarized right now, and when we’re given a reason to look, we immediately start freaking out and defensively harping on strawman versions of what we presume the other side thinks of us.
Don’t blame the movie for a far more systemic societal issue. The movie’s a good way to kill a couple of hours. It’s fun to watch.
Best Scene:
The part of the film I most enjoyed was the segment when some members of Kyle’s team (his friends) actually get seriously injured/killed right in front of him. These scenes are engaging from the start and genuinely entertaining, but his reaction is best.
It’s like it suddenly hits him. Oh my God. This is dangerous. “Real” people just died, not just “savages.”
Best Action Sequence:
The sniper scenes are riveting to watch, definitely high energy. The big showdown with Mustafa seems a bit contrived, but in a “movie” way, it’s pretty engaging.
Best Scene Visually:
I enjoyed the well timed sandstorm. It works well on a symbolic level, the pathetic fallacy in action. It’s also a great use of realism, showing the vast difference even in physical setting between war and home.
The scene with the fake baby also deserves special mention because it’s so absurd. For a second, you think Kyle is having a Black Swan moment. Is he finally just flat out losing it? You can imagine someone whispering to a fellow audience member, “Oh my God! That’s not even a real baby!” It’s so bad it’s almost good because, I mean, nothing about “real life” seems real to the character at this point, so it’s like accidental symbolism.
Most Oscar Worthy Moment, Bradley Cooper:
This is Cooper’s best screen performance as far as I’m concerned. I like the way he portrays the weird rift in his character. Kyle is strangely relaxed and chatty in the war zone, but he’s like a zombie at home, unable to relax and assimilate into everyday society.
He’s fantastic in the dog moment at the party, and I also love the blood pressure scene and its aftermath.
The Negatives:
The worst thing about this film is all the irritating controversy surrounding it.
Basically American Sniper is a typical war movie. As entertainment, it’s very solid. It’s no different tonally than all those black and white war movies actually made during World War II.
It’s not a perfect film by any means. (The rivalry with Mustafa is clearly played up for the movie, and the baby wrangler should definitely be fired.)
But the media-generated controversy surrounding the film is ludicrous and (frankly) annoying.
Fox News’s take on the whole thing made me remember why I’ve never liked Fox News. The movie is clearly a hit with audiences. It has made a gazillion dollars at the box office. It’s also nominated for several Academy Awards. So clearly most people have responded positively to the film.
And yet Fox News spent four hours (and probably longer, but my mom started playing Animal Crossing, thankfully for my sanity) FOUR HOURS, harping on and on about how three people had made negative comments about American Sniper.
And the three people were Michael Moore and two other guys with similar MOs. I mean, seriously? Michael Moore prides himself on being a gadfly. He has made a career out of deliberately agitating everyone. He has consistently behaved like a combative jackass. (I’m a fan of some of his work and think Bowling for Columbine is a great teaching tool and in many aspects an excellent film, though the way he treated Charlton Heston—then suffering from Alzheimer’s—was deplorable and just made Moore look classless and cruel, undermining his point somewhat.)
And then there’s the way they reacted to what Moore said. It was just like SNL‘s parody of Fox and Friends.
Moore’s tweet: “Tomorrow’s Sunday School (1) What Would Jesus Do? Oh, I know what he’d do—hide up on a roof and shoot people in the back.”
Yes, he’s deliberately being a jerk. What else is new? But their response was just unreal. Someone even said, “What is he even talking about? He’s just jumping around now. That doesn’t make any sense. I don’t even know what he means.” They all chimed in in agreement, and I went berserk (no doubt prompting my mother to start playing Animal Crossing).
But I mean come on. You don’t know what he means? Knock it off. Why dissemble? That wide-eyed act is unbecoming in an adult professional.
What he means is perfectly clear. Jesus would not be in favor of shooting people, and you know it. Jesus threw the money changers out of his father’s house, but he didn’t break into other people’s houses and shoot them.
Conflating American patriotism (even jingoism) and Christianity is really common but that does not make the connection logical or defensible or correct. One must practice quite a bit of compartmentalization and cognitive dissonance not to see any conflict between invading another country and killing its inhabitants and the Sermon on the Mount.
Call Moore an obnoxious jackass, but don’t pretend you have no idea what he’s trying to say. That’s so juvenile.
But the media on the left is being just as ridiculous. For one thing, there’s this weird vibe of blaming American Sniper for Selma not getting enough recognition. Well for one thing, Selma was not snubbed. It’s just as nominated for Best Picture (and just as not nominated for Best Director) as American Sniper. Cooper did take the spot people wanted for David Oyelowo, but Cooper has been nominated three years in a row now. His own popularity is a factor to be taken into account.
There’s also this insistence that the film is a warmongering piece of propaganda that doesn’t probe the problematic side of Kyle’s career enough. Did you not watch the movie? Did his behavior seem normal to you?
So a lot of audiences see Kyle as a hero and don’t ask themselves the troubling questions. Maybe you think that’s appalling, but the thing is, no matter how educated you are, you don’t get to control what other people think. So you’ll just have to get over it somehow and go back to not pretending to care about movies.
I also don’t think it matters that Chris Kyle probably lied about some stuff in his memoir. The whole thing is presented from his point of view, so the objective truth is irrelevant. Besides the guy is dead. It’s not like he wants to anchor the nightly news. Get over it.
The only legitimate complaint I’ve heard is that the movie’s popularity could bias the jury at the killer’s murder trial. Yeah, that’s true. That guy is probably pretty screwed. But he did kill a celebrity. It’s hard to get a fair trial when you kill a celebrity whether Clint Eastwood makes a movie or not.
Overall:
I enjoyed American Sniper. It’s an engaging film that’s easy to watch and seems as deserving a Best Picture nominee as any. Bradley Cooper gives the performance of his career. Keep an eye on him. He’s a dark horse to steal that Best Actor Oscar.