Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) was a deadly sniper, serving in four tours of the Middle East where he racked up nearly 200 kills with his razor sharp accuracy. “American Sniper” tells the tale of the heavy psychological load Kyle had to carry in the aftermath of his service and how it affected him and those he loved.
In the video game generation we’re currently experiencing where gamers are able to cathartically live in the mind’s eye of first-person shooters, many of us may have become de-sensitized to the reality of taking the life of another human being. In Clint Eastwood’s latest war film, we learn about the toll that the reality takes on those who put their lives on the line and are thrust into the role of a killing machine.
Eastwood expertly draws a portrait of what it is like to experience the role that Kyle takes on. Like him, the viewer is given the opportunity to witness each death and the ramifications of each. The viewer is given a real sense of the colossal death toll that Kyle is constantly expanding. We are left with a real-time Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from simply watching this movie. Unlike the video gamers, we are not de-sensitized and neither is Chris Kyle. The weight of each kill is forever stacked one on top of another until we are left breathless by the end. The war scenes in “American Sniper” are exciting, spellbinding and will leave the viewer riveted to the screen.
The viewer is given a rest in the home scenes where Kyle tries to live with his family. We witness his distraction, anxiety and frustration at having to live with his status of hero for killing so many people. He struggles to be there emotionally for his wife and children and Cooper does a masterful job of conveying his distress.
This is one of Eastwood’s best and is a paramount testimony to the sacrifices, painful decisions and trauma experienced by soldiers in any war.
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