I always go out of my way to avoid war films, with the exception of Full Metal Jacket which was an anti-war war film, so there was never any danger of my backside warming a cinema seat to watch American Sniper so i have managed to avoid the hype surrounding it until Michael Moore piped up with his 'snipers are cowards' comment.
I don't have much time for those sniping from roof tops, firing missiles from a ship 20 miles off the coast, dropping bombs from 35,000 feet up or controlling a drone from halfway around the world and my sympathies lie with the innocent people caught up in the willy waving of the leaders of the countries at war.
So not that i would have gone and seen it anyway, but i did start to read about the soldier whose story the film is based on, Chris Kyle.
I got a few paragraphs in and learnt that he was obsessed with guns from an early age, was deeply religious and believed that he was in Iraq doing Gods work and turned the page.
I'm not interested but as it has set a new record for films that open in January, seems the gun nuts, those who saw the Iraq War as 'just', those duped by the rhetoric of the War On Terror and anyone with a bible in the bedside cabinet are enjoying it but it's not for me thanks.
7 comments:
American Sniper is without question an anti-war movie. Most people just don't realize it.
Have you seen it E-Wadda?
Yes. A lot of people will see any war movie and consider it pro-war, which is the source of confusion about whether American Sniper is pro-war or anti-war. However, if you're thinking at all critically, I don't think you can watch American Sniper and come away thinking either "war is a pretty good idea" or "the Iraq War was a good call." Here's a fairly good review of sorts that kind of explains my thinking as well: http://goo.gl/E9EB9B
The reviews I have read have seemed split between if it was anti or pro war but as you have seen it I will take your word for it that it isn't either. Can you redo the link as keep getting no page found.
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2015/01/two-misunderstood-movies-not-too-many-spoilers-here.html try that. It's from a pseudo-libertarian blog I read, so take it with salt if you must, but most libertarians are very anti-war. I especially like how he describes it as an anti-war Rorschach test in the sense that the movie allows you to see what you want to see, but there are better or more accurate ways to interpret it (i.e., as anti-war). It's even more obviously anti-war if you've read the book, as I have, which is extremely pro-war. The tone and emphasis of the movie is totally different from the book.
I do like the Rorschach test line at the end of the review, sums it up nicely as you see what you want to see in it. It is nice to see so many people speaking out against what they see a glamourising war film though.
As i said to E-wadda, i haven't seen it and don't intend to, the reviews were enough to tell me it was one to avoid.
Indeed, war is hell but my sympathy doesn't go to the soldiers of either side who signed up to go to warzones, it's the civilians who never signed up for anything but have to live with the hell all the time, not just for a tour and long after the soldiers have moved on elesewhere.
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