Talk about context. It’s all but everything here.
In other words, being an American sniper in World War II would have earned you near universal acclaim. At least here in America. You were, after all, killing Nazis. On the other hand, killing “terrorists” in Iraq 60 years later, you may still be a hero to some, sure… but not to others. Instead, you may well turn out to be viewed as but one more cog in Dick Cheney’s military industrial complex. One more sucker recruited to further the interest of America’s war economy. America’s war machine.
Sans the Nazis.
And Chris Kyle is the sucker’s sucker in this regard: God and country all the way. Or so some will argue.
On the other hand, war is war. And, politics aside, if you wind up fighting in one it can change you in ways that you will never see coming. It sure as shit changed me. As I often point out, the man I was before my own “tour of duty” in Vietnam would scarcely recognize the man I became afterward. To say nothing of my family and friends.
For most soldiers “in the shit” there’s almost no getting around PTSD. And there is really no way in hell for folks who have never been in or around a war to ever understand what makes those who have think and feel and do the things they do. It all just gets swept up in conflicting points of view. And then the politics of course.
Clint Eastwood doesn’t exactly glorify or glamorize war here. Or even glorify or glamorize the Warrior. But he sure does come awful close from time to time.
And one can easily imagine the jihadi rendition: Iraqi Sniper.
Anyway, a film of this sort is bound to spark controversy. One take on it: bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30923038
Look for the death heads. They’re everywhere.
And look for the fog of war. That too: everywhere.
IMDb
[b]Chris Kyle’s father personally told Clint Eastwood and Bradley Cooper that he would “unleash Hell” if his son’s memory was disrespected in this film. He also said that Eastwood and Cooper were “men he could trust.”
Bradley Cooper felt he could become Chris Kyle because he and Kyle had nearly the same height, age, shoe size and body frame. Once Cooper had built up his body and had grown out his beard, Chris Kyle’s friends and family said that they would do a double take while looking at Cooper because of how much he looked like Kyle.
With the exception of two weeks filming in Morocco for exterior Iraq scenes, the picture was filmed entirely in California.[/b]
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Sniper
trailer: youtu.be/99k3u9ay1gs
AMERICAN SNIPER [2014]
Directed by Clint Eastwood
[b]Chris: I got a military aged male that’s on a cell phone, watching the convoy. Over.
Officer: If you think he’s reporting troop movement, you’ve got a green light. Over.
Soldier: Maybe he’s just calling his old lady.
…
Chris: I got a woman and a kid walking towards the convoy. Her arms aren’t swinging. She’s carrying something. She’s got a grenade. She’s got a RKG Russian grenade she just handed to the kid.
Officier: Your call.
Soldier: They’ll fry you if you’re wrong. They’ll send your ass to Leavenworth.[/b]
Shoot the kid? Yep. Then the woman.
Wayne Kyle [to his sons]: There are three types of people in this world: sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. Some people prefer to believe that evil doesn’t exist in the world, and if it ever darkened their doorstep, they wouldn’t know how to protect themselves. Those are the sheep. Then you’ve got predators who use violence to prey on the weak. They’re the wolves. And then there are those blessed with the gift of aggression, an overpowering need to protect the flock. These men are the rare breed who live to confront the wolf. They are the sheepdog. Now, we’re not raising any sheep in this family. And I will whup ypur ass if you turn into a wolf. But we protect our own. If someone tries to fight you…tries to bully your little brother, you have my permission to finish it.
Chris: The guy was picking on Jeff.
Wayne: Is that true?
Jeff: Yes, sir, yes he was.
Wayne [to Chris]: Did you finish it?
[Chris nods his head]
Wayne: Well, then you know who you are. You know your purpose.
It’s all that simple, isn’t it?
SEAL Instructor: D, what are you still doing in my line trying to make this team? Everybody knows black guys don*t swim!
‘D’: It’s alright Sir, I’m not black!
Instructor: No?
‘D’: No I’m the new black. We run slow, we jump low, we swim good, and we shop at Gap. And I make the white folk proud, and I hose down their ladies. I dick 'em down!
Ah, the military mind.
[b]Chris: I’m not redneck; I’m Texan!
Taya: What’s the difference?
Chris: We ride horses, they ride their cousins.
…
Chris [shoots a snake next to the target range]: I’m better when it’s breathing.
…
Taya [on the phone]: Killed anyone yet?
Chris: This is not the way a call home is supposed to go, babe.
…
Chris [to Taya]: They’re savages. They’re fucking savages!
…
Chris: What happened? You alright?
Jeff: Man, I’m gonna miss my ride.
Chris: What happened?
Jeff: I’m just tired, man. I’m going home.
Chris: I’m proud of you. Dad’s proud of you.
Jeff: Fuck this place.
Chris: Huh? What’d you say?
Jeff: Fuck this place.
…
Chris: God, country, family, right?
Marc: You got a God?
Chris: I got a God? You getting weird on me?
Marc: You know, growing up in Oregon we had this electric fence around our property. Us kids’d grab on to it to see who could hold on the longest. War feels kinda like that. Puts lightening in your bones, makes it hard to hold on to anything else.
Chris: Hey man, you need to sit this one out?
Marc: I just want to believe in what we’re doing here.
Chris: There’s evil here. We’ve seen it.
Marc: Yeah. There’s evil everywhere.
Chris: You want these motherfuckers to come to San Diego or New York? We’re protecting more than just this dirt.
Marc: All right. Let’s go kill this fucker.[/b]
They’ve got him: hook, line and sinker. Not that we do want the jihadis living next door. Of any denomination.
[b]Taya: You’re my husband, you’re the father of my children. Even when you’re here, you’re not here. I see you, I feel you, but you’re not here. I hate the Teams for it. I do. You’re my husband. You’re the father of my children, but they’re the ones that pull you back.
Chris: Yeah, but, you see, they can’t wait and we can.
Taya: If you think that this war isn’t changing you you’re wrong. You can only circle the flames so long. It’s true.
…
Chris: Mustafa’s got his peepers out.
Biggles: This motherfucker is Keyser fucking Söze, bro.
…
Marc’s mother [reading a letter from Marc at his graveside]: “Glory is something some men chase and others find themselves stumbling upon not expecting to find it. Either way it is a noble gesture that one finds bestowed upon him. My question is when does glory fade away and become a wrongful crusade? Or an unjustified means by which consumes one conpletely? I’ve seen war and I’ve seen death.”
…
Taya: Mark wrote that letter two weeks ago. Did he say any of that to you?
[Chris says nothing]
Taya: Chris, I want to know what you thought of his letter.
Chris: An AQI informant called in a tip and Biggles had just been shot. We were operating out of emotion, and we just walked into an ambush. But that’s not what killed him. That letter did. That letter killed Marc. I mean, he let go, and he paid the price for it. [/b]
He really believes that. And who’s to say it’s not true?
[b]Chris [watching a small boy pick up the RPG of a man he had just killed]: Don’t pick it up. Don’t you fucking pick it up. Drop it. Drop it you little cocksucker.
…
Navy Doctor: Would you be surprised if I told you that Navy has credited you with… over 160 kills?
Chris: Hm-mm
Navy Doctor: Do you ever think that… you might have seen things or… done some things over there that you wish you hadn’t?
Chris: Oh, that’s not me. No.
Navy Doctor: What’s not you?
Chris: I was just protecting my guys, they were trying to kill our soldiers and I… I’m willing to meet my Creator and answer for every shot that I took. The thing that… haunts me are all the guys that I couldn’t save. Now I’m willing and able to… be there but I’m not, I’m here I quit.
Navy Doctor: You can walk down any hall in this hospital. Looks like plenty soldiers need saving.
Chris: Hm-mm
Navy Doctor: You want to take a walk?
Chris Kyle: Sure. [/b]