There has recently been a lot of controversy surrounding the Oscar nominated film directed by Clint Eastwood, American Sniper, with many saying the film is politically conservative and pro-war on terror. I had the opportunity to the see the film in IMAX earlier this week and I must say that, aside from a few gripes regarding directing, it is a very solid film with Bradley Cooper giving the performance of his career. So far, the film has grossed $137.1 million, making it the biggest January opening ever, and now there is much controversy about if the film is just a big propaganda piece and its portrayals of Muslims. The man himself, Chris Kyle, also has controversy surrounding him. He has said in the past, “The enemy are savages and despicably evil,” and his “only regret is that I didn’t kill more.” It definitely was a bad idea to glorify a man who found his job fun, whereas in the film he is facing a crisis with some of his decisions (like shooting a child holding a grenade). But this isnt anything new. Many different films based on a true story have been romanticized in the past and have made bad people look good (i.e. Captain Phillips) so I do appreciate the negative reaction from the audience but this is really nothing new in filmmaking. The portrayal of Muslims in the Iraq War were also heavily criticized, saying they were portrayed as savages and evil, but the Muslims werent the only ones showcased like this. The Vietnamese, the Japanese, the Turkish... Many of the opposing forces in war have been portrayed as more evil/bad than they actually were (usually for dramatic effect), which is nothing new. However, I personally did not see savages, instead I was witnessing acts of war. I didnt see the American troops being all that nice either. Both sides were portrayed in the dark in certain aspects. Im not gonna sit here and say it was an accurate portrayal but I cant say it was completely unrealistic either. The entire film had a sense of realism, which is definitely admirable, but I do understand the complaints about accuracy and portraying different races and events correctly. However, dont let this blind you from seeing a good film. It is definitely, in my opinion, not Oscar worthy but it is definitely a solid film that I believe people should see. Great to see people paying closer attention to real life stories. Many film adaptations done in the past of real people were usually heavily romanticized and adapted to fit the silver screen.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 03:33:11 +0000
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