Have Critics of American Sniper Even Seen the Movie?
I finally saw the movie American Sniper, and I am amazed anyone could think this movie glorified war or America's involvement in Iraq. As a pacifist, I am extremely sensitive to movies that seem too rah-rah about war, but this was not one of them. The protagonist may come off as heroic, or at least enduring, but war looks pretty sucky, full of hideous moral choices, and led/governed by jerks. Which shouldn't be surprising because I would have described Eastwood's other recent war movies in roughly the same way.
SamWah:
It's how wars are: lots of sound and fury, monumental suck, mistakes, stupidity, etc. &so on.
April 8, 2015, 12:09 pmSamWah:
And critics aren't going to see it, because they KNOW it's wrong.
April 8, 2015, 12:10 pmMatthew Slyfield:
War is hell. It's supposed to be hell. If it wasn't, why would you ever expect the enemy to surrender?
April 8, 2015, 1:41 pmCT_Yankee:
It is clearly not safe to show this movie to Univ. of Michigan students without the prerequisite Bedwetters 101, fortunately they canceled it and played “Paddington Bear,” a PG-rated movie about a stuffed animal’s misadventures, presumably offering councelling for those upset by the bear's misfortunes. I wish I was kidding. Seriously, there is just no need to make up stuff like this. They really banned it for hurting feelings.
http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/21937/
April 8, 2015, 7:14 pmskhpcola:
Pacifists have killed more people than Marxism ever did. It is a silly philosophy. A case could be made that it is also an evil philosophy, but Libertarians are usually anti-religious and amoral, so "evil" is just a lifestyle choice to them.
April 10, 2015, 1:42 pmMorven:
I agree; I watched it before I heard of the controversy, and if anything I felt it was a criticism of America's involvement. A gentle one, but it did not glorify it in the least.
April 13, 2015, 1:14 amano333:
i think the problem was more with making Chris Kyle the "hero" after his comments in his book about Iraqis and killing in general. The guy wrote that he would shoot people with Korans if he could. Kyle comes off as a modern-day Crusader (with a capital "C"), and making him a "hero" in a movie sends a terrible message.
On the other hand, I agree that the movie really didn't glorify the war itself.
April 15, 2015, 7:40 amrussnelson:
Agreed. Not glorifying war.
April 18, 2015, 10:25 am