Criticism of Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper blockbuster has been harsh and widespread in some circles. From being labeled a pro-war, pro-Republican movie, to Michael Moore’s “I was taught that snipers are cowards” tweet, the criticism has been widely reported as well. Now, Eastwood has not only responded to the critics, but his response may surprise most of us — especially those who have condemned the film. Speaking at Saturday’s Producers Guild Award Nominees Breakfast, he said: “The biggest antiwar statement any film [can make is to show] the fact of what [war] does to the family and the people who have to go back into civilian life like Chris Kyle did.” “One of my favorite war movies that I’ve been involved with is Letters from Iwo Jima. And that was are about family, about being taken away from life, being sent someplace.” In World War II, everybody just sort of went home and got over it. Now there is some effort to help people through it. In Chris Kyle’s case, no good deed went unpunished.” After Eastwood decided to make the movie, he and Bradley Cooper (who portrays Chris Kyle) went to Texas to meet with Kyle’s widow and the rest of his family. “I thought I’d better meet the rest of the family and see what they looked like and that would probably dictate the casting and to see what Mrs. Kyle was like. It was of great value to [Bradley] because he could get into the history of the family and their feelings about the whole situation.” Critics have suggested that Eastwood should not only have made an anti-war statement in American Sniper, but that he also should have made the case that America should not have gone to war in the Iraq in the first place. In other words, the movie should have been politicized to their liking. Incidentally, I saw American Sniper Saturday evening. It was neither pro-war nor anti-war. Moreover, it was completely apolitical.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 02:09:11 +0000
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