On Being Irresponsible with American Sniper

Clint Eastwood knows how to tell a story. And his best stories are not what they appear, taking dark twists, even if they were dark to begin with. American Sniper offers up the potential to be this. A man hailed the most deadly in American military history; his tours of Iraq and his family life. The ingredients are there for a story more than the audience expect.

Yet, American Sniper is a strange beast. Technically impressive (a shootout in a sand storm is fantastic to watch) and terrifically acted, but thematically it stands on rocky ground. The film is a bombastic, jingoistic account of American military might. The film has caused so much national pride in America (and shot to the top of the box office, a rarity for an Eastwood film) that reports say it has led to anti-Islamic attacks. Citizens in a blind, ignorant fury, mistaking it for nationalistic righteousness, unsure of what they’re angry at and so willing to follow the simplest, base message available.

This is the ideology of American Sniper’s protagonist, Chris Kyle and combined with his absolute belief that god is standing over his shoulder, authorising and assuaging him of guilt for every kill. This is a dangerous man to heroise and in retrospect an irresponsible action. Kyle is regularly referred to as legend throughout. The semantics are perilous.

Were American Sniper entirely fictional the discussion may be different, but that it is based on a real solider and that it plays fast and loose with aspects of his life, neglecting aspects that don't find the patriotic message, leads to the problem. American Sniper is divisive in a time when unification is needed.