American Sniper

[Mark]

Well, he does not come across as a psychopath in the movie. Haven't read the book of the actual Chris Kyle. In the movie, one of the hardest things for him is having to shoot at a child who attacks the troops on the ground. Also, he does not boast at all in the movie.

With a large number of first person shooter games out there and so many young people playing them, combined with growing hatred and assorted bizarre phobias, a movie like that is bound to add fuel to the fires.

 

[Kasia]

Gerald Celente wrote an apt review:


http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2015/02/03/guest-column-gerald-celente-america-murder-inc/

 

[lilies]

Clint Eastwood is an excellent director, most of the time delivering powerful movies, unfortunately, in this case. Why he didn't see, that he should avoid this topic, is a mystery. Or several 'suitcases of money' changed hands?

I could only bear to watch the trailer for a couple of seconds, but that was enough to see the human actor Bradley Cooper totally fails [for me at least] playing the psychopath, because he is simply not one. Cooper the actor apparently carefully watched interviews made with the mass murderer, real-life sniper, Chris Kyle and tried to mimic Kyle's psychopathic expressions. He fails at making believe that he has transformed himself into a real-life psychopath for the movie's duration. If in this movie [I didn't watch it] he succeeds to play a real human, its even worse: he manages to help the Hollywood mind programming. Cooper - usually excellent in romantic movies and comedies - shouldn't have accepted the role in the first place.

Christian Bale did a better job in American Psycho by willfully erasing human emotions from his face, so moviegoers got some taste of what a real life psychopath could be.

When an actor in a movie about politicians achieves a successful making believe - in almost all cases he / she manages to come across a real human. This is the main problem with most 'president-movies'. They only help Hollywood to bring across the diabolical, suggestive message:
- Politicians are real humans too, just like you and me, you see?

A significant number of normal people then automatically equate politicians - file them emotionally - as "real humans, just like us" for the length of the movie in the subconscious and the damage is done. The Wetiko virus is injected and lingers in the mind after, resulting in a "Hollywood-PTSD", what I call: Movie Psychosis. Horror-themed nightmares are usually the result and believing in lies, e.g. mind-programming.

 

[gdpetti]

I could be wrong, but I don't think Clint thinks that shooter is a pyscho... perhaps he is the thoroughly modern American hero? Has it ever really been much different over the centuries? Does it depend whether the troops are killing 'Indians', slaves, Phillippinos, Cubans, Mexicans or todays versions of the same such as Iraqis, Afghanis et al? Maybe the reporting then as now isn't much different either? I don't know. I wonder if perhaps small local papers, journals, letters etc told what was really going on in their time, similar to the few sites on the internet today doing just that? Perhaps it was just word of mouth then as now? And then the question, same as for Clint, is whether you believe the lies or not. Why would Clint be any different than most Americans? You have to have an interest in any subject to become really familiar with it, unless you are surrounded by it early in life, say from parents, teachers etc... and how rare is that? I think I saw an interview in which Clint said he portrayed him from the book, not a psycho, but a type of soldier common to most wars, especially the covert ones.... as the sniper he was.

 

[Deleted member 11729]

Watched the movie last night, and speaking about cinema as a storytelling tool, it is another masterpiece from Klint Eastwood, where he use perfectly the symbolism of gaming culture that has two sets - one military, and one pink - plastic - green american dream. He do the play between this two worlds almost shallowly, as one can experience it while playing some video game. He is not really ready to emphasize the emotional dramas inside the characters, for each major emotional scene, either positive or negative, he ironically use stereotypes, either life stereotypes, and cinematography stereotypes. If you watch it openly, without assumption and this little documentary note, that it is about real man, for me that will be on the emotional level the most lame and stupid portrait of the most important American thing - war hero - but when it is done by Klint Eastwood, who can doubt the artistic quality ;) ... so it is kind of a trick to get exposure and big number of people to watch it.

On the other side, I am not sure that Klint wanted to create kind of a monument to all this stereotypes of American dream - from war Hero to the happy family life full of personal drama between partners, who don't understand each other, because they are characters from different levels of video game, that is overlapping here and there, but without any significant and important reason - the wife can go cooking / shopping all day long and her hubby can go killing also all day long and they occasionally get together to make more cooking / shopping / killing members of this fruitfull and thankful American society, representing perfect American dream scheme.

If you looking form that point, Klint Eastwood is not needed to make such a lame movie. But he decided to go with the subject any way.
Through chritics about movie, for me it was not clear what he wanted to say, so the main question to watch the movie was, why he made it?

I just thought why so many fantastically creative minds go astray in last decade, how it can be that they get trapped by this mass hypnosis of American "peace keepers". How is it possible that they are not here with us on the forum? etc etc etc. So I lebeled Klint alredy withouth watcnig it, so actualy I did a same thing, fall under the stereotype.

Getting back to Klint, he is too experienced, too smart and too old and too rich American director and movie star, to be so stupid to glorify a thing like killing and occupying innocent people. If Klint wanted to do a hero movie to glorify all this horrors that Americans do in Middle East, he could do that just after the book was released. But he didn't. And I see that, the ending, the way how HERO dies, it is the point that moved Klint to make this movie and to scrap down all the ugliness of American dream hypocrisis and lies about war and American enemies.

IMO the fact that hero is killed by another veteran that he was helping to overcome PTSD, not by any Muslim or any other targeted false enemy of USA, is such a great point, not just the ending of the movie. And the whole art direction and film design was leading to this completely ironical and absurd fact that the bigest American hero was killed by his colleague war veteran in his homeland. Clear and pure and straightforward mesage that said - "hey people of America, how stupid we are that we can't see what goes around comes around"

Klint for obvious reaosn didn't want to go direct with this message, as he wanted to get to as many as possible American minds, to find and light up those who will see the absurdity and lie behind American government and army and all involvement in the bloody combats around the world. Sure many psychopats will get a lame and "straight forward" stereotype idea, but anyone who suffered horrors of war, and who is capable of seeing through, and who has a bit of compassion and brain left, I think will go beyond, and will see this movie as a movie that is exposing all the shame of USA today, left in cinema art as a document of one era, the beginning of 21st century, when America had more private jails than schools.

 

[Oxajil]

FWIW:

Documents show Chris Kyle, "American Sniper", was an American liar about his military record

But Kyle, who was murdered by a fellow military veteran several years after leaving the Navy, embellished his military record, according to internal Navy documents obtained by The Intercept. During his 10 years of military service and four deployments, Kyle earned one Silver Star and three Bronze Stars with Valor, a record confirmed by Navy officials. [...]

The discrepancy raises new questions about Kyle's credibility and highlights a continuing controversy in the SEAL community over members exaggerating or distorting their war records.

 

[Ca.]

FWIW:

Documents show Chris Kyle, "American Sniper", was an American liar about his military record

But Kyle, who was murdered by a fellow military veteran several years after leaving the Navy, embellished his military record, according to internal Navy documents obtained by The Intercept. During his 10 years of military service and four deployments, Kyle earned one Silver Star and three Bronze Stars with Valor, a record confirmed by Navy officials. [...]

The discrepancy raises new questions about Kyle's credibility and highlights a continuing controversy in the SEAL community over members exaggerating or distorting their war records.

Would appear so.
_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6kYRZciQ0E

This movie was at first under the direction of Steven Spielberg. But soon left the project in which Clint Eastwood took over. (http://deadline.com/2013/08/steven-spielberg-drops-out-of-directing-american-sniper-557150/) Of his many credits with the production and direction of Schindler's List (producer) Munich (2005) and Bridge of Spies ...................The agenda is clear.

Spielberg speaking at the Pentagon on August 11, 1999 after receiving the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service from Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen

Former President Clinton with Spielberg as he accepts the 2009 Liberty Award in Philadelphia

Oh well that is Hollywood and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FHEeG_uq5Y