So from now till the Oscars, every Friday and Monday, I will post feedback for a nominated film Ive seen. Here goes: American Sniper (Best picture, Best acting, Sound Editing/Mixing, Adapted Screenplay)This film , directed by Clint Eastwood was supposed to be a biography of a celebrated US Navy Seal Sniper, Chris Kyle, who served 4 tours and had 160 confirmed kills. Technically the film did a lot of right things ie. transitioning between the tours and regular life using great sound mixing and editing. Scene worth mentioning: the dessert storm right after he kills the evil sniper, Mustafa, it made me feel like I was right there in Iraq and I could see what they were seeing (or couldnt in their case) so props to the Cinematography and Production Design. American Snipers portrayal of heroism: As a whole, this very political film was actually very disappointing. The screenwriters embellished a lot of stuff about Kyles life to make us see a sniper as this hero and to me felt as though this film was a 132min paid for by the US military ad. They made it a priority in the film to objectify the people of the nation of Iraq which they invaded by calling someone The Butcher and Mustafa the other sniper who apparently is a terrible person for killing the soldiers who are on his turf but then the main character Kyle is suddenly a hero for killing him from a remarkable 2100 km away. The film tried to shove in my face that the people over in the Middle east are actually savages and that Chris Kyle was this white knight who saved his guys one kill at a time. It made me realize that heroism is relative. This piece of on the nose fiction concerns me that it misrepresents of the lives of people that serve in the US military and the lives of people in war-torn countries. Bradley Cooper, who played Chris Kyle, was not really consistent in his characters portrayal either. I do feel he was given a lot of directions that seemed to be contradicting ie. he driven by his family or by his unit? When the filmmakers couldnt get more obvious about their political agenda, Jonathon Groffs character meets him in a car shop and shows him his amputated leg and says I lost this leg, but you were the one that saved my life. What would have been a more interesting story was draw a parallel between him and the Iraqi sniper, because they both have the same goal for their conflicting sides - To protect their own. This would not have minimize the importance that the US military plays in our lives, but rather give us a truer representation of Kyles unit in the same situations. Let me be clear, I have the utmost respect for my friends and family that are serving/ served in the military and I understand when you sign up to protect and serve for your country you dont get to choose what war you end up in, so I struggled my feelings toward this film. That being said, I do not think it should win best picture and that Bradley Cooper should not have been nominated for this particular role in the first place. This, of course, is just my opinion because art moves people differently and in different ways. Interesting fact: Theres another film in this category about a war, World War 2, which I thought in fact told the story of another hero Alan Turing ie. The Imitation Game and I cant wait to discuss it on Monday.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 20:20:14 +0000
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