I saw the movie “American Sniper” a few days ago and it was not the war movie I was expecting. The combat scenes were very intense and graphic, but I walked away feeling I just watched a movie about how war affects the men who fight it and their families. That’s what stuck with me. The combat sequences were necessary to show what Chris Kyle went through, what caused the change in him and the effect it had on his family. But you could probably reduce the combat footage by 50%, to a series of long flashbacks and still conveyed the same message. The only way I could see this as a war film would be to remove all of the non-combat footage except maybe the attack on the twin towers and his final return to his family.
How anyone could see this as a movie glorifying war is insane. Chris Kyle didn’t rejoice or celebrate after each kill or carve notches in his rifle stock. He agonized before and after many of his shots. And remember, each time he pulled the trigger; his target had been positively identified as an enemy combatant preparing to attack American troops. If anything, it highlighted the heroism of the American Military that voluntarily walks into harm’s way.
The movie was criticized for using the term “savage” to describe the enemy combatants. I racked my brain trying to come up with a less offensive (i.e. politically correct) word to describe people that cut off a woman’s arm to send a message or kill children by drilling a hole in their head in front of their parents as shown in the movie. Or how about the ISIS terrorists that behead civilians, execute military prisoners upon capture, stone women, shoot children for watching soccer, and throw gay men off a 13 story building. And don’t forget the group that killed all of the children in a Pakistani elementary school because their parents were in the Army. Maybe savage is the right word.
I guess it’s just a coincidence that today is the anniversary of the day Chris Kyle died.