Clint Eastwood treats Iraq like Iwo Jima. Will Americans really go for this horseshit?

[marmar]

from In These Times:


American Sniper: Guns, God and Gallons of Testo’
Clint Eastwood treats Iraq like Iwo Jima. Will Americans really go for this horseshit?

BY MICHAEL ATKINSON


Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper perfectly epitomizes a certain kind of American horseshit: the militaristic anthem thinly disguised as a sob story, the spray of nationalism scented with humanist rosewater. In telling the potentially resonant life story of Chris Kyle—a Navy SEAL who survived four tours in Iraq, where he reputedly became “the deadliest sniper in American history,” with 160 confirmed kills—Eastwood picks gently at the scabs of war, never questioning the wound or the society that inflicted it.

It’s all guns, God and gallons of testo’, delivered in the check-box fashion of the modern biopic. We follow Kyle from deer-shootin’, schoolyard-brawlin’ Texas tyke to aimless-n’-wild twentysomething (enter Bradley Cooper) to buffed-up SEAL recruit, and then it’s off to the circus. Kyle’s unit gets the deployment call, wouldn’t you know it, right in the middle of his wedding reception.

Eastwood treats Iraq like Iwo Jima, an unambiguous battle against Evildoers, with Kyle an honest-to-God American hero picking off headshots from rooftops. Nowhere in sight is the simple awareness that we were the invaders. This is another one of those movies, like Zero Dark Thirty, that makes me worry for the country, if only because it implicitly extols the virtues of xenophobic slaughter in lieu of even a glancing awareness of political facts.

Sure, Kyle is haunted by having to pop women and children from hundreds of safe yards away, but he’s Us, after all—a little guilt with the badassery is our holy burden. The Iraqis, on the other hand, are black-clad, sneering, Nazi-ish monsters, opening kids’ skulls with hand drills and hiding in shadowy villain dens. Like a superhero, Kyle even has an evil counterpart, a handsome arch-nemesis sniper who dares to shoot American soldiers. Cue the Act Three triumph via a slo-mo bullet and an inspirational exhortation after a comrade dies, “Do it for Biggles!” ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.com/article/17515/american_sniper_guns_god_and_gallons_of_testo

[hatrack]

1. Well, it depends on how big a role The Chair gets in the movie

My guess would be the more furniture screen time, the higher the box-office.

[Oklahoma_Liberal]

2. Yes. We will eat it up. :(

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. From what one knows of Chris Kyle, "American Psycho" might have been a better title (n/t)

[JonLP24]

4. They already ate up Hurt Locker

First off, EOD is an incredibly boring job in deployment zones (it is actually far more exciting on the state side doing on a "need to know basis" work for the FBI & Secret Service locating, uncovering explosives that we never hear about) they drive 5 mph in vehicles with ultra bright headlights locate the possible bomb, maintain a safe distance, perform the controlled detonation (it is even more boring waiting for them).

So if they ate up a premise built on nonsense they'll eat this up.

On edit - The Iraq War movies we watched in Iraq were far more realistic & better but I don't have a clue as to what the titles were, scenery, look & feel especially highlighting the beauty of Iraq.

[DetlefK]

5. I think, Hollywood is somewhat happy that the bad guys nowadays are Arabs:

During the Cold War, who were James Bond's antagonists? The Russians. But you have to cast good actors for them (white ones), you have to give them backstory, clothes... And you can't just mow them down. You have to dehumanize them first through plot.

And today? Wrap a towel around an extra's head and give him an AK47-prop and you can mow them down by the scores because he was already dehumanized by being a brown-skinned, faceless nobody.

That iraqi rebel lived in a brutal dictatorship and is now fighting off alien invaders. FOR FREEDOM!
Meh, too complicated. Hide his face, make him a nobody, boom.



The "faceless stranger" would also work with Chinese... Except Hollywood wants to sell movies in China. That's why they had North Korea invade and conquer the US in the remake of "Red Dawn".

[JonLP24]

7. The best movie from the "War on Terror" era was "Traitor" hands down

First off, it was the only one that didn't treat it as a whole bunch of stereotypes in a desert looking country except for the obligatory helping out & bonding with the local folk but it kinda predicted the future in that ISIS recruited from an American ran detention facility.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

16. This one?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traitor_(film)

[JonLP24]

32. What is up with link

It wouldn't even let me make the correct search to the correct film, treason kept coming up. Kinda spooky.

If you think of treason than you clearly haven't seen the film.

(On edit - I thought it was a false set up, clearly typing the word traitor in brings up treason. Scared me there for a second. If you watch the movie from beginning to end, you won't think treason. There is a reason why they choose the title but not for the reason you're thinking or I have no idea what you're thinking, the message behind the link is open to interpretation.

This is the correct link if by chance you made a mistake -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traitor_%28film%29

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

33. Don't know why it's doing that. Here's the poster from the original link:

[JonLP24]

34. I posted the correct link

I understood the mistake still not clear why you are still posting the wrong link but I'd recommend seeing the movie, without giving it away you don't think treason but like it says "the truth is complicated". I'd basically spoil the ending if I explained it but the guys motives & intentions are certainly not "attack America" but has to facilitate that as an informant under deep, deep cover that falls under deep, deep, deeper cover as a result from events in the plot. He is being watched by the FBI who he is also an informant for to explain how many people know who is compared to how many that thinks he is a terrorist

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

36. All I did was copy and paste from my browser in Wikipedia. Not sure why it's not working

nor am I clear on where you're drawing your other conclusions. Just wanted to confirm it was the correct movie with Don Cheadle. Nothin more nothing less.

[JonLP24]

37. Here is why I was drawing different conclusions

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traitor_%28film%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traitor_(film)

then I replied and you post http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traitor_(film) again.

One worked and one sent me the article on Treason. Clicking on a link and reading an article on Treason felt I don't know you felt I favored Treason or people who commit Treason so I was trying to read into the meaning behind it.

I guess %28 %29 works for me while ( ) works for you which is the only conclusion I have now which is one I will accept. Just explaining the confusion on my part.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

39. I knew it! My damn work browser is a teabagging neocon. I can't get that stupid link to work right.

Which is why I figured pasting the poster would be more straight forward. I can't get the % thingy in my address bar when searching the movie.

If anything, I've been called a traitor online so many times myself. i was starting to think it was a compliment.

[KingCharlemagne]

23. Wim Wenders' "Land of Plenty" is worth a look for its perceptive

demystification of the pathological delusions that gripped us stateside. Also "In The Valley of Elah" shares honorable mention, imo.

[HappyMe]

24. I will have to check those 2 out.

Thanks.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

29. Had never heard of the first one. Seen the second one you mentioned. Thanks. nt

[lunasun]

10. +1 DetlefK- Everything you said !

[Central Scruitinizer]

30. You highlight Ben Affleck's point on Real Time

And today? Wrap a towel around an extra's head and give him an AK47-prop and you can mow them down by the scores because he was already dehumanized by being a brown-skinned, faceless nobody.

He rudely talked over someone while stating it.

While Islam can be vilified with supporting facts, the affixing Islam to dehumanize brown people is what Americans accept. A Hadji was a position of honor that became a modern n-word.

And Clint Eastwood propagandizes this with the best of them.

[Blue_Tires]

6. I guess the movie is keeping in spirit with Kyle's autobiography

Which supposedly had more than a few outrageous, eyebrow-raising parts...

[lame54]

8. I wanna see it

[HappyMe]

9. My husband and I will probably go see it.

We also want to see 'Selma', 'The Gambler' and 'The Hobbit'.

[lame54]

11. Too bad he didn't actually review the movie he saw...

just the one he didn't get to see

[LuvNewcastle]

12. Hell, if they ate up those old westerns with the black and white hats,

they'll eat this shit up with a spoon. People will do anything to escape life.

[JohnnyRingo]

13. According to the Rolling Stone review...

...the movie dedicates a large portion of the plot to the mental demons Kyle had to face between his many tours. It's far removed from the old John Wayne style of movie like "The Green Berets".

I'm not planning on seeing the flick, it's not my thing, but I think this article may have been written with some bias. In fact, I'm sure it was.

Just the line "safely from hundreds of yards away" reveals slim knowledge of the risks faced by such specialists. Snipers don't usually live long after the first shot that reveals their position, and that is partly what makes this man's story unique.

[HappyMe]

15. I just read the Rolling Stone review.

It does sound more like a movie review than the rant diguised as a review in the OP.

[JohnnyRingo]

42. It seems the "reviewer" is just unhappy that...

...the movie didn't show Kyle sticking flowers in soldiers rifle barrels and a Bush/Cheney war crime trial at the end. I'd like to rewrite that history as well, but one can't criticism Eastwood for not carrying water for anti-war liberals.

I haven't seen the movie, so I don't know if it somehow glorifies the war, but I doubt it does so like some movies from the Viet Nam era.

[Johonny]

22. Most of Eastwoods best movies are morally ambiguous and Americans don't do ambiguity well

They tend to see the movie as either black or white. Eastwoods best movies on one level seem like shallow action movies but are typically like "The Searchers" where there's a lot of uncomfortable parts that don't mesh with the idea.

[alarimer]

35. Surprising, considering Republicans (and he is one) don't do nuance well.

But I've often found Clint Eastwood to be a different sort of Republican (well, apart from the nutty talking to chairs bit- what was that about?) so his movies tend to have more moral ambiguity than most. Especially the war ones. Even Letters from Iwo Jima. He managed to humanize the Japanese, who are always, without exception treated as monsters in every other film.

But Christ Kyle is a proven liar and blowhard. I am reluctant to see any movie (apparently based on his book which was riddled with lies and exaggerations) that treats him as a hero.

[JohnnyRingo]

41. For some reason Eastwood always catches flak.

I recall complaints on his movie about Iwo Jima a few years ago. Some were quite indignant that there were no African American heroes portrayed in his semi-historical recount. He had to point out that black people were normally not sent into front line service in WWII. To be fair, boys with German names weren't trusted either. Many fell to friendly fire when their unit came upon unusually bad luck while on patrol.

Personally, I'm not that big a fan of his movies, but some criticism aimed at him seems to be for the sake of criticism alone. I don't know why.

[Thespian2]

14. Movies are whatever

the directors, editors, and producers want them to be. I don't go to movies, and I watch none of the current offerings. My wife prefers old movies. My point is that I believe Eastwood is more than a has-been. He is a never-was. I can't image the "chair whisperer" could do any movie that did not glorify his theory of guns, god, and glory through the mass murder of other races of people.

[zeemike]

17. Don't tell me there is yet another movie that justifies sociopaths.

And makes a hero out of it.

The media is a source of propaganda and it is clear who and what they are for.

[JonLP24]

38. When I heard they were making movie about him

my thought he is absolutely the last person you should be making an Iraq movie on.

Oh, how I wish I remember the title of that one film that captured the look and feel of Iraq's scenery, much less on the Rambo shit but more on pointless war & the steadying losing of morale of the unit.

[Enthusiast]

18. I knew it was pure horse shit.

One would think Eastwood would be brighter than this. Apparently not.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

28. Well, he did spend half an hour talking to an empty chair at the Republican National Convention.

So you're probably right.

Some of his films have been good, but that doesn't mean jack in terms of practical smarts.

[Major Nikon]

19. Of course. It represents everything wingnuts love

1) Guns

2) Dichotomous thinking

3) More guns

4) Killing non-Christians for no good reason

5) U-S-A sloganeering

6) Unbridled psychopathy

7) Alcoholism

8) More guns

[JohnnyRingo]

43. ...And PTSD

There's a lot of that in the movie according to the Rolling Stone review. Kyle had to deal with his guilt, uncertainty, and a difficult time readjusting to home life between tours, and the movie focuses on those times. This biased "review" is just someone upset that there wasn't a Bush/Cheney war crimes trial at the end of the movie.

It's perhaps odd that returning to the theater of operations temporarily took his mind off those mental demons, but from what I understand it's not unusual for one who has lived the horrors of war.

[MynameisBlarney]

20. This propaganda

will only reinforce for some people, their already strong belief that this was a just war.
These people are also goddamn morons.

[pocoloco]

21. Sounds like another winner from Eastwood!!

Perhaps we can better judge it from the information we learned from Lt. Col. Dave Grossman's "On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society" and all of his revelations that are really suprising and outside of common knowledge.

[Jamastiene]

25. He never said anything about feeling remorse.

He hated the Iraqis and loved killing even women and children. He also bragged that he killed 20 looters during Hurricane Katrina. Reading about the real Kyle, he sounded like a loud mouthed braggart who lied a lot. He even claimed that he punched Jessie Ventura, but that turned out to be a lie too. His wife is STILL trying to appeal and raise hell about the lawsuit that his estate lost when Ventua finally had had enough of his mouth.

Americans WILL buy this horseshit. Like the song says, we are a Nation of Assholes... Assholes who idolize heartless, sick, thieving, lying, sadistic bastards like Kyle.

[Central Scruitinizer]

31. The George Zimmerman of the military

Kyle classified Americans to two camps, patriots and pussies.

If you revelled in gore and death, you were a patriot.

If you questioned the reasons so many suffered and died, you are a pussy.

[KansDem]

26. Well, of course Iraqis are "evil doers." They attacked us on 9/11...

Right, Clint? Isn't that right?

[FairWinds]

27. This sort of mindless jingoism . .

requires more than just complaints.
Think about joining Veterans For Peace, or another of
the organizations that "get it."
We owe this to our grand kids.

[frylock]

40. i can't wait for it to hit theatres in hopes that the wall-to-wall advertising..

being shown during football playoffs goes away.

[onethatcares]

44. upon further review

one finds that clint was a swimming instructor, for the army during the Korean War. Never got anywhere near combat except for those
movies he's really good at.

maybe he's trying to fill in a missing part of his biography.

[bigwillq]

45. I thought American Sniper was good but not great.

Bradley Cooper was fantastic. I did not like Sienna Miller at all.

I thought Zero Dark Thirty was terrible--so boring.


I do agree with the following:

Eastwood picks gently at the scabs of war, never questioning the wound or the society that inflicted it.

Nowhere in sight is the simple awareness that we were the invaders.

[GeorgeGist]

46. REAL Americans will eat it up.

[raouldukelives]

47. What hyper-patriotic country doesn't enjoy a good sniper hero pic? nt

[cwydro]

48. The irony

is that guy was murdered by another vet when he was back in the US.