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Bradley Cooper takes aim as the American Sniper in Eastwood's surprisingly thoughtful war film |
Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Bradley Cooper (Chris Kyle), Sienna Miller (Taya
Kyle), Luke Grimes (Marc Lee), Jake McDorman (Ryan “Biggles” Job), Cory
Hardrict (D), Kevin Lacz (Dauber), Navid Negahban (Sheikh Al-Obodi), Keir
O’Donnell (Jeff Kyle), Sammy Sheik (Mustafa), Mido Hamada (The Butcher), Eric
Close (Agent Snead)
All war films walk a fine line: too far one way, and you glorify
the violence of conflict; too far the other way and demean the bravery of the
soldiers sent to fight it. It’s a tricky balance, but one American Sniper handles with real confidence, astutely putting
together a film that can celebrate the bravery, skill and professionalism of
its lead character but deplore the psychological impact killing has on him,
while subtly suggesting the war he was fighting was scarcely worth the
sacrifice.
Chris Kyle (played by an almost unrecognisably beefed up
Bradley Cooper) is a Navy SEAL sniper stationed in Iraq. Kyle’s role as a
sniper is to protect the troops on the ground from threats they can’t see, and
it’s a job he treats with immense seriousness, believing he has a duty to
protect others. Kyle soon builds up an astonishing number of kills (a record
for US soldiers), but increasingly the burden of killing from a distance impacts
Kyle more and more. Over the course of four tours in Iraq, Kyle becomes distant
and withdrawn at home from his wife Taya (Sienna Miller) and children. Only
after his final tour does he begin to seek help, finding a new purpose in life in
helping other veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress. Which, tragically,
leads to Kyle’s death, as he is killed in February 2013 by a veteran whom he
was trying to help.
Eastwood directs with his expected unfussy smoothness and American Sniper is one of his finest
films, a largely unsentimental, gritty look at the true cost of war physically
and emotionally. Eastwood balances respecting Kyle’s skill and deploring the
impact using that skill had on him. The film stresses the perverse necessity
for empathy the role of sniper demands. Kyle is so good at the role because he
will go the extra mile to protect his brothers-in-arms on the ground. The
psychological impact is heavy because this man, hard-wired to protect others, has
to do so by gunning down hundreds of people. Is it any wonder it has such a
huge impact on him?
The sequences set in Iraq have the grimy air of reality to
them, with dust, dirt, sweat and glare dominating every frame. Eastwood pulls
no punches on the impact of bullets from distance on bodies, the violence of
direct combat, the terror of being pinned down by enemy fire or the waste of
lives (both civilian and military). While the film celebrates the bravery of frontline
soldiers, it’s telling we see very few officers at all, but stay with the
grunts, and the film is one of their stories and their choices. The politics behind
why the soldiers are even there are barely touched upon and, as the tours tick
by, the feeling of being there because they are there permeates the film. There
is always another insurgent leader to take out, another target to find, and the
soldiers make so little progress towards their actual target (locating
al-Zarqawi) that he’s barely even mentioned.
Eastwood still subtly suggests our cause in Iraq hardly
helps to win over hearts and minds. The soldiers’ interactions with the
population are consumed with tension and violence, usually involving scared
soldiers shouting at unarmed people, cable-tying men on the floor and failing
to relate to or understand the cultures they are in. Any attempts to do so
usually end with poor consequences, and the closest to a bond Kyle forms with
someone outside of the soldier circle leads to a tragic ending. It’s not a film
that has an affinity with the consequences of war, or the impact it has on
lives.
If you have any doubt about that, then watching the slow
breakdown of Kyle over the course of the film (manfully shrugged off and denied
for as long as possible by the man himself) should shake that. Much of the
impact of this comes from the excellent performance of Bradley Cooper, who
slowly turns the light, fun and intelligent man we meet at the start of the
film into someone sullen, withdrawn and permanently on the edge of anger,
unwilling to even to begin to think about the possibility that anything he has
seen has had any lasting impact on him. There is even some questioning of the
damage extreme masculinity and an unwillingness to be open about your problems
has on people (themes that Eastwood has always been far more interested in than
he is given credit for).
In fact, excellently assembled as the sequences in Iraq are
(especially the tension around a semi-duel between Kyle and an insurgent sniper
known only as “Mustafa”), I could actually have had more time given over at the
end of the film to exploring how this man with such a warm empathy in him
discovered a new purpose in his life. Kyle’s other heroism – and perhaps the
secret to the regard he was held in by so many when he was murdered – was his
commitment to helping people any way he could. His refocusing his life to help
veterans deal with PTSD and physical disabilities could have been brought out
into greater focus. Kyle’s greatest strength was his empathy and he became so
open about his own problems, and his struggle to readjust, that it helped
inspire many others to do the same – and it’s a plot thread I feel deserved a
few more minutes at the end of the film.
It does however make a wise call by ending the morning of
the day that Kyle was killed, with him leaving his family to spend a few hours
with the veteran who killed him. Kyle had been involved in the development of
the film, and it stands as a fitting, honest, tribute to him. Powered by
Cooper’s superb performance, well supported by Sienna Miller as the wife who
wants him to acknowledge the impact war is having on him, Eastwood assembles a
fine war film, that acknowledges the sacrifices and heroism of soldiers, but
also deplores the horrors conflict enacts on their psyche. It’s a mature,
intelligent and well-handled film and well worth your time and effort.
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