THE FILM
FILM DIRECTOR: Clint Eastwood
SCREENWRITER: Jason Hall
FILM STARS: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Luke Grimes, Jake McDorman, Cory Hardrict
COUNTRY: USA
THIS BOOK
AUTHOR: Chris Kyle with Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice
TYPE: Non Fiction
PUBLISHER: William Morrow
THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 2014
COUNTRY: Great Britain
COVER: Paperback
THE ORIGINAL BOOK
ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above
YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 2012
ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: American Sniper : The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History
NOTES
GENRE: War Memoir
WORDS: In the 2010s the film and the book were both topical and relevant.
Were.
Less so now despite the fact that the nature of war and the role of this particular type of serviceman, a sniper, has not changed.
The world has changed.
The world expects binary views on good and evil, and those views must fit the dominant paradigm.
Well, then, maybe with it’s straightforward account, both the film and book are still relevant.
The film is based on a book by Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL who completed four tours in Iraq from 1999 to 2009 where his role was that of a sniper. And, he was an effective one with 160 confirmed kills (Kyle claims to have killed roughly 320 enemies). Both film and book look at Kyle’s upbringing in Odessa, Texas, Navy SEAL training, combat experiences in Iraq, and readjustment to domestic life in between and after the tours.
Both the film and book are basically character studies wrapped up in “men in war” tropes.
The book is written in a (as one critic once called it) “humble-brag” manner, a style which minimizes the subject person while acknowledging both his successes on the battlefield and his troubles back home.
In that, it is similar, but a more graphic, version of Audie Murphy’s war memoirs, “To Hell and Back” (1949), about his experiences in WW2 that led to him becoming the most decorated US soldier of the war. Murphy, also from Texas, also suffered (most likely) from PTSD though his autobiography and the film made on his experiences (1955) which starred Audie himself, do not deal with the trauma. There are many points of comparison between Kyle and Murphy (their bravery, their high kill count, their respect for their country, their Texan background, their relationship with firearms, their field promotions, their PTSD) but they also diverge. Kyle was a specialist trained marine, Murphy was an infantryman, Kyle did most of his killing as a sniper, Murphy did most as a soldier in open combat. It is clear the killing weighed somewhat on each of their minds, but how much it weighed must have, I suspect, been informed by how they killed.
In any event the book is written in a straightforward matter of fact manner (much like the Murphy book) by Kyle with couple of professional writers, Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice, to keep it on track. Kyle had retired from the military in 2009 and the book was published in 2013.
The book went on to become a bestseller with a 37-week run on The New York Times bestseller list and brought Kyle national attention
When you put yourself in the spotlight you will have people examining every word you have said and looking for inconsistencies. Some of Kyle’s anecdotes and facts were challenged but the core of his narrative was widely accepted.
A film was inevitable.
And perhaps not surprising Clint Eastwood was chosen to direct. Clint has that old style of film making where he tells a story straight. No post modernism enters his style. His films are like films made in the 30s and 40s he watched as a kid or like ones from the 50s when he had started acting but unlike films that followed with experiments in technique and story which cast shades of grey over character and stories. Sure they have (some) violence and profanity but that is just window dressing.
Eastwood himself was under contract to Universal studios between 1954 and 1955 when Murphy’s To Hell and Back was being made at the same studio. I would be surprised if Clint didn’t recall that film when making this. I’m also surprised he didn’t get Kyle to play himself as Murphy did in his film, and as Clint subsequently did when his real life characters as leads in The 15:17 to Paris (2018)). Clint directs the film well with screentime between characters and action divided well with neither overshadowing the other. Cooper, who spent time with Kyle (apparently) preparing for the role, is excellent though perhaps a bit more philosophical than needed. Sienna Miller, as his wife, is solid but Cooper is the whole show. The film itself sticks close to the book though the book has more on Kyle’s early days growing up in Texas whilst upping the drama in relation to Kyle’s wartime service and “legendary” status amongst his enemies. These don’t affect the tone of the film.
The film does have a postscript, not (obviously) in the book, about what happened to Kyle who was murdered (in Texas) in 2013, by another veteran suffering from PTSD. He was 38 years old. The on-screen subtitle of the event is followed by footage of crowds standing along the highway for his funeral procession.
The film received a wide release January 16, 2015. For his portrayal of Kyle, Cooper received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, and the film was also nominated in five other categories, including Best Picture. The film only won the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing.
The film was criticised for lack of taking sides by reviewers in Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Salon and other binary requiring, self deluding, middlebrow publications, but they rarely have their finger on the pulse or can see what’s coming. How can you see what’s coming when your head is up your arse?
The film grossed $350.1 million in North America and $197 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $547.1 million, against a budget of around $58 million, making it the second-most profitable film of 2014 behind Transformers: Age of Extinction. It is (apparently) the highest-grossing war film of all time (breaking Saving Private Ryan’s (1998) record).
The book is an easy read, the film is an easy watch. Both have more going on than what you see on the surface. Having said that, you could skim the book but the film is required viewing, if only once.
American Edition (2014)
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Trailer #2
I haven’t seen the film as I don’t like Eastwood’s work, especially the biopics over the last two decades. There’s always too much of the heroic white man being unfairly treated by the system for my taste.
Having said, this might be worth a look. I doubt it will say anything nuanced about the Iraq war but otoh the perspective of a sniper in an insurgency would be interesting. it’s hard to see how someone in Kyles position would not have killed innocent civilians ( whether or not he believed them to be legitimate targets at the time) and unless he was a psychopath that must have taken its toll. So, as I say, the film might be worth seeing.
I have long been interested in Audie Murphy, who apparently did suffer from PTSD. His Medal of Honor citation is amazing reading, if you put in a movie people would disbelieve it. I have read that when his autobiography To Hell and back , was filmed , the studio had to tone down some of the scenes ( all of which were independently verified by eyewitnesses) as being over the top. When I get the chance I would like to watch some of his westerns, I’ve read that he had a brooding presence.
“heroic white man being unfairly treated by the system” …ha ha …yes, but it is balanced out and (perhaps) overwhemed by any number of other identity genre films in fashion
Read the bio on Murhy “No Name on the Bullet” by Don Graham. A great read…