American Sniper: Accurate or Misleading?

[Securitan]

Alternet released a story not too long ago detailing the inconsistencies that the movie has with the book and with the actual Chris Kyle.

The film American Sniper, based on the story of the late Navy Seal Chris Kyle, is a box office hit, setting records for an R-rated film released in January. Yet the film, the autobiography of the same name, and the reputation of Chris Kyle are all built on a set of half-truths, myths and outright lies that Hollywood didn't see fit to clear up.

Here are seven lies about Chris Kyle and the story that director Clint Eastwood is telling:

1. The Film Suggests the Iraq War Was In Response To 9/11: One way to get audiences to unambiguously support Kyle's actions in the film is to believe he's there to avenge the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The movie cuts from Kyle watching footage of the attacks to him serving in Iraq, implying there is some link between the two.


2. The Film Invents a Terrorist Sniper Who Works For Multiple Opposing Factions: Kyle's primary antagonist in the film is a sniper named Mustafa. Mustafa is mentioned in a single paragraph in Kyle's book, but the movie blows him up into an ever-present figure and Syrian Olympic medal winner who fights for both Sunni insurgents in Fallujah and the Shia Madhi army.

3. The Film Portrays Chris Kyle as Tormented By His Actions: Multiple scenes in the movie portray Kyle as haunted by his service. One of the film's earliest reviews praised it for showing the “emotional torment of so many military men and women.” But that torment is completely absent from the book the film is based on. In the book, Kyle refers to everyone he fought as “savage, despicable” evil. He writes, “I only wish I had killed more.” He also writes, “I loved what I did. I still do. If circumstances were different – if my family didn't need me – I'd be back in a heartbeat. I'm not lying or exaggerating to say it was fun. I had the time of my life being a SEAL.” On an appearance on Conan O'Brien's show he laughs about accidentally shooting an Iraqi insurgent. He once told a military investigator that he doesn't “shoot people with Korans. I'd like to, but I don't.”

4. The Real Chris Kyle Made Up A Story About Killing Dozens of People In Post-Katrina New Orleans: Kyle claimed that he killed 30 people in the chaos of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, a story Louisiana writer Jarvis DeBerry calls “preposterous." It shows the sort of mentality post-war Kyle had, but the claim doesn't appear in the film.

5. The Real Chris Kyle Fabricated A Story About Killing Two Men Who Tried To Carjack Him In Texas: Kyle told numerous people a story about killing two alleged carjackers in Texas. Reporters tried repeatedly to verify this claim, but no evidence of it exists.

6. Chris Kyle Was Successfully Sued For Lying About the Former Governor of Minnesota:Kyle alleged that former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura defamed Navy SEALs and got into a fight with him at a local bar. Ventura successfully sued Kyle for the passage in his book, and a jury awarded him $1.845 million.

7. Chris Kyle's Family Claimed He Donated His Book Proceeds To Veterans' Charity, But He Kept Most Of The Profits: The National Review debunks the claim that all proceeds of his book went to veterans' charities. Around 2 percent – $52,000 – went to the charities while the Kyles pocketed $3 million.

Although the movie is an initial box office hit, there is a growing backlash against its simplistic portrayal of the war and misleading take on Kyle's character. This backlash has reportedly spread among members of the Academy of Motion Picture of Arts and Sciences, which could threaten the film's shot at racking up Oscars.

So, what do you think? Should American Sniper be a testament to how snipers in the USMC actually feel or should it be regarded as another action movie? Is this movie patriotic propaganda or is it something else?

I'm curious to see your responses. As for me, I think that the movie may have sensationalized some events and appealed to the emotional appeal of the audience a couple times, but it is what movies generally do. I also don't think that the actual Chris Kyle was as sociopathic as Alternet is making him out to be.

Source.

[Terra Sector Union]

I can't really talk on the accuracy of the film because I've never seen it, but it's possible it might be inaccurate because it's based on the autobiography and who knows if Chris Kyle was being 100% honest when writing that.

But the movie, as American propaganda? I think people throw that word around when they see something they don't like. To me, American Sniper is just a cinematic adaptation of Chris Kyle's book. Whether you agree with war or not, there's a story to tell. This movie my have attracted a lot of conservative moviegoers but quite a few liberal movie critics are giving it good reviews. The film is even getting some awards.

[Insaeldor]

Eh the film I wouldn't say isn't misleading it's really just poorly written at times thank god the actors cane and and saved some roles. I think the bigger controversy is why such an average film has become so politicized simply due to its subject matter. But anyway if the movie is misleading it's probably thanks to its subpar writing rather then any real attempt at doing so.

[Occupied Deutschland]

1. The Film Suggests the Iraq War Was In Response To 9/11: One way to get audiences to unambiguously support Kyle's actions in the film is to believe he's there to avenge the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The movie cuts from Kyle watching footage of the attacks to him serving in Iraq, implying there is some link between the two.

There is.
Iraq got invaded because of 9/11. Had 9/11 not occurred, Iraq would not have been invaded. 9/11 created the conditions in which the Iraq war was entered into. The movie itself even addresses this obliquely in the latter half as disillusionment with Iraq specifically begins to grow among even soldiers there, inspiring the rather obviously empty 'It's here or in NEW YORK' argument being repeated practically word-for-word by Kyle.

This doesn't really help get people to 'unambigiously support' Kyle, either. As the vast majority of the American populace (including the 'conservative' demographic who are fanning the film's flame) will notice the rather bankrupt reasoning used by Kyle to justify the US presence there. Besides that, it's a rather innocuous film technique. It isn't about political chickanery around the Iraq war (though that does enter into it obliquely) it's about Kyle and Kyle's actions in Iraq as a sniper. Makes sense to jump to that service period after showing the reason why that service became required.

2. The Film Invents a Terrorist Sniper Who Works For Multiple Opposing Factions: Kyle's primary antagonist in the film is a sniper named Mustafa. Mustafa is mentioned in a single paragraph in Kyle's book, but the movie blows him up into an ever-present figure and Syrian Olympic medal winner who fights for both Sunni insurgents in Fallujah and the Shia Madhi army.

Indeed, this annoyed me a bit, but it's rather accepted artistic license to inflate certain situations (particularly to create a more cohesive antagonist than the nebulous 'insurgents', and to reflect some issue relevant to the story). 'Mustafa' seemed to me to be used primarily as a way of showing Kyle and other soldier's service becoming heavily focused around protecting or avenging each other as opposed to the 'mission' of the Iraq war (a phenomenon most soldiers talk about quite extensively).

3. The Film Portrays Chris Kyle as Tormented By His Actions: Multiple scenes in the movie portray Kyle as haunted by his service. One of the film's earliest reviews praised it for showing the “emotional torment of so many military men and women.” But that torment is completely absent from the book the film is based on. In the book, Kyle refers to everyone he fought as “savage, despicable” evil. He writes, “I only wish I had killed more.” He also writes, “I loved what I did. I still do. If circumstances were different – if my family didn't need me – I'd be back in a heartbeat. I'm not lying or exaggerating to say it was fun. I had the time of my life being a SEAL.” On an appearance on Conan O'Brien's show he laughs about accidentally shooting an Iraqi insurgent. He once told a military investigator that he doesn't “shoot people with Korans. I'd like to, but I don't.”

One could quite easily not see the movie as portraying Kyle as tormented by his actions so much as by the actions he didn't take. Hell, 'he' says he doesn't regret anything in an interview with a veterans counselor in the film, and if I remember correctly most, if not all, of the instances of him being 'tormented' never explicitly show that torment being caused by his killing (hell, even the initial incident where he shoots a mother and her child never gets referred to again by Kyle except in an oblique 'They're savages!' way when he is arguing with his wife and Kyle's 'torment' over the incident lasts a total of a few minutes in the film where he, I don't believe, ever actually expresses regret. I believe the film has him saying 'I just wish that wasn't the first' or something to that affect to another soldier...It seems to be heavily implied that the other SEALs or Marines who died or got wounded bothers him much more than the people he killed (There's...numerous incidents of this. Reflected in both funerals and his swearing of vengeance against the fictional Mustafa, as well as in Kyle volunteering to take the place of one of the dogfaces breaching and clearing houses (apocryphal perhaps, but aimed at painting a seemingly deliberate picture of Kyle and/or the mentality one should have in such a position)).


I'm, frankly, extremely uncertain the film is even supposed to be 'about' Kyle so much as about the mentality of a soldier through the lens of a famous one. Hell, one quick scene that sticks with me is the 'Mustafa' character in the movie getting ready to go out and kill coalition/American soldiers and putting his rifle together as his wife/girlfriend is in the background. No words get said and he quickly leaves and the camera just stays for a split second on this veiled woman who we can't really tell the reaction of before the scene transitions back to Kyle, leaving one with the vague idea if they care to confront it that this terrible, feared sniper on the other side is very similar to Kyle in mental disposition.

In fact, 'On Combat' should probably be handed out with tickets to the movie. The 'Sheep, Sheepdogs, Wolves' speech Kyle's father gave him in the beginning probably comes from there and the whole movie feels like it's a film version of some of the ideas in those books with the veneer of Kyle's biography over it as cover and entertainment.

[Idzequitch]

What would be newsworthy is if they made a movie based on real life events, and didn't alter what actually happened. Every single film based on real events has inconsistencies. We all ought to be used to it by now.

[Lunatic Goofballs]

A movie doesn't have to be accurate. It wasn't a documentary. A movie just has to be entertaining.

But I refused to see it because I have no interest in lining the pockets of Chris Kyle's estate.

[Tsaraine]

A movie doesn't have to be accurate. It wasn't a documentary. A movie just has to be entertaining.

But I refused to see it because I have no interest in lining the pockets of Chris Kyle's estate.

I didn't refuse to see it, because refusing to see it would require some situation in which I would see it. Really I only watch action movies if they have some sci-fi element ... and this one isn't sci-fi, it's fantasy.

[Lunatic Goofballs]

A movie doesn't have to be accurate. It wasn't a documentary. A movie just has to be entertaining.

But I refused to see it because I have no interest in lining the pockets of Chris Kyle's estate.

I didn't refuse to see it, because refusing to see it would require some situation in which I would see it. Really I only watch action movies if they have some sci-fi element ... and this one isn't sci-fi, it's fantasy.

Indeed.

[SaintB]

Clint Eastwood has stated that the movie is a fictionalized version of the events in the autobiography and that he himself holds a very anti-war stance but the film itself is just a work of entertainment like Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima before them were.

He took real life source material and adapted it to an entertaining format. Being entertaining was more important than the facts were, which is the case 99% of the time in Hollywood, and Mr. Eastwood is at least willing to admit that.

As for me I probably won't see it and I don't care if I ever do.

[United Russian Soviet States]

It is just an action film.

[Gauthier]

Further scientific studies on the long term results of arguing with an empty chair is required.

[Page]

Chris Kyle always struck me as someone without a conscience but having a woman in your scopes and him going "nade or no nade, I'm gonna waste her" wouldn't make for a very well liked line coming out of Bradley Cooper's mouth.

[Romalae]

It would be incredible if the film was entirely "accurate." Films are notorious for stretching the truth, exaggerating, and merging/adding new people/ideas when it fits the narrative. And that's okay, because it's just a film. Let it go.

[WestRedMaple]

I think too much is being read into it. It is a movie BASED on something, not a documentary about it.

In the end, the purpose is entertainment rather than informational. Given how much praise it has received, obviously it is successful.

[The Black Forrest]

What would be newsworthy is if they made a movie based on real life events, and didn't alter what actually happened. Every single film based on real events has inconsistencies. We all ought to be used to it by now.

A movie based on real life events would in most cases be boring. You only have so much time to tell the story.

It's fascinating to see people who think the movie events are real or the people who think movies should teach.......

[Page]

I think too much is being read into it. It is a movie BASED on something, not a documentary about it.

In the end, the purpose is entertainment rather than informational. Given how much praise it has received, obviously it is successful.

Well, it is presented as a biopic.

And I wouldn't really care about it from an entertainment standpoint if right-wingers weren't all "how can you not feel patriotic and lovin' 'Murika after seein' this?!?!"

[WestRedMaple]

A movie doesn't have to be accurate. It wasn't a documentary. A movie just has to be entertaining.

But I refused to see it because I have no interest in lining the pockets of Chris Kyle's estate.

I didn't refuse to see it, because refusing to see it would require some situation in which I would see it. Really I only watch action movies if they have some sci-fi element ... and this one isn't sci-fi, it's fantasy.

Not fantasy....fiction.

[Page]

I didn't refuse to see it, because refusing to see it would require some situation in which I would see it. Really I only watch action movies if they have some sci-fi element ... and this one isn't sci-fi, it's fantasy.

Not fantasy....fiction.

You clearly left the cinema to piss during the part when Kyle snipes the necro-mage with a silver bullet and gets it on with the Elven princess who wears a tooth of Muhammed's dragon around her neck.

[Sheltton]

1. The Film Suggests the Iraq War Was In Response To 9/11: One way to get audiences to unambiguously support Kyle's actions in the film is to believe he's there to avenge the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The movie cuts from Kyle watching footage of the attacks to him serving in Iraq, implying there is some link between the two.

There is.
Iraq got invaded because of 9/11. Had 9/11 not occurred, Iraq would not have been invaded. 9/11 created the conditions in which the Iraq war was entered into. The movie itself even addresses this obliquely in the latter half as disillusionment with Iraq specifically begins to grow among even soldiers there, inspiring the rather obviously empty 'It's here or in NEW YORK' argument being repeated practically word-for-word by Kyle.

This doesn't really help get people to 'unambigiously support' Kyle, either. As the vast majority of the American populace (including the 'conservative' demographic who are fanning the film's flame) will notice the rather bankrupt reasoning used by Kyle to justify the US presence there. Besides that, it's a rather innocuous film technique. It isn't about political chickanery around the Iraq war (though that does enter into it obliquely) it's about Kyle and Kyle's actions in Iraq as a sniper. Makes sense to jump to that service period after showing the reason why that service became required.

2. The Film Invents a Terrorist Sniper Who Works For Multiple Opposing Factions: Kyle's primary antagonist in the film is a sniper named Mustafa. Mustafa is mentioned in a single paragraph in Kyle's book, but the movie blows him up into an ever-present figure and Syrian Olympic medal winner who fights for both Sunni insurgents in Fallujah and the Shia Madhi army.

Indeed, this annoyed me a bit, but it's rather accepted artistic license to inflate certain situations (particularly to create a more cohesive antagonist than the nebulous 'insurgents', and to reflect some issue relevant to the story). 'Mustafa' seemed to me to be used primarily as a way of showing Kyle and other soldier's service becoming heavily focused around protecting or avenging each other as opposed to the 'mission' of the Iraq war (a phenomenon most soldiers talk about quite extensively).

3. The Film Portrays Chris Kyle as Tormented By His Actions: Multiple scenes in the movie portray Kyle as haunted by his service. One of the film's earliest reviews praised it for showing the “emotional torment of so many military men and women.” But that torment is completely absent from the book the film is based on. In the book, Kyle refers to everyone he fought as “savage, despicable” evil. He writes, “I only wish I had killed more.” He also writes, “I loved what I did. I still do. If circumstances were different – if my family didn't need me – I'd be back in a heartbeat. I'm not lying or exaggerating to say it was fun. I had the time of my life being a SEAL.” On an appearance on Conan O'Brien's show he laughs about accidentally shooting an Iraqi insurgent. He once told a military investigator that he doesn't “shoot people with Korans. I'd like to, but I don't.”

One could quite easily not see the movie as portraying Kyle as tormented by his actions so much as by the actions he didn't take. Hell, 'he' says he doesn't regret anything in an interview with a veterans counselor in the film, and if I remember correctly most, if not all, of the instances of him being 'tormented' never explicitly show that torment being caused by his killing (hell, even the initial incident where he shoots a mother and her child never gets referred to again by Kyle except in an oblique 'They're savages!' way when he is arguing with his wife and Kyle's 'torment' over the incident lasts a total of a few minutes in the film where he, I don't believe, ever actually expresses regret. I believe the film has him saying 'I just wish that wasn't the first' or something to that affect to another soldier...It seems to be heavily implied that the other SEALs or Marines who died or got wounded bothers him much more than the people he killed (There's...numerous incidents of this. Reflected in both funerals and his swearing of vengeance against the fictional Mustafa, as well as in Kyle volunteering to take the place of one of the dogfaces breaching and clearing houses (apocryphal perhaps, but aimed at painting a seemingly deliberate picture of Kyle and/or the mentality one should have in such a position)).


I'm, frankly, extremely uncertain the film is even supposed to be 'about' Kyle so much as about the mentality of a soldier through the lens of a famous one. Hell, one quick scene that sticks with me is the 'Mustafa' character in the movie getting ready to go out and kill coalition/American soldiers and putting his rifle together as his wife/girlfriend is in the background. No words get said and he quickly leaves and the camera just stays for a split second on this veiled woman who we can't really tell the reaction of before the scene transitions back to Kyle, leaving one with the vague idea if they care to confront it that this terrible, feared sniper on the other side is very similar to Kyle in mental disposition.

In fact, 'On Combat' should probably be handed out with tickets to the movie. The 'Sheep, Sheepdogs, Wolves' speech Kyle's father gave him in the beginning probably comes from there and the whole movie feels like it's a film version of some of the ideas in those books with the veneer of Kyle's biography over it as cover and entertainment.

Trying not to burst ur bubble but we invaded Afghanistan in response to September 11. Possibly after watching the attacks he wanted to join the military service and instead of being sent to Afghanistan he was sent to Iraq.

[WestRedMaple]

Not fantasy....fiction.

You clearly left the cinema to piss during the part when Kyle snipes the necro-mage with a silver bullet and gets it on with the Elven princess who wears a tooth of Muhammed's dragon around her neck.

Haven't seen it yet....but maybe I need to

[Sheltton]

Also we really can't say shit because we weren't in Iraq or directed the movie.

[Sebastianbourg]

I don't think the film's main purpose is to be accurate. I haven't watched it but as long as it is entertaining it has fulfilled its purpose.

[Scomagia]

I haven't seen it and I have better things to do than sit down and watch it, but I'm going to guess that it's probably not truthful. It's Hollywood, there's no truth in anything that comes out of there.

[-United Islamic Emirate-]

Its a high end propaganda film. Like Zero Dark Thirty and that other movie that came out last year about those stupid navy seals. I mean it's obvious that it is. If North Korea makes a military film and shows it to its citizens in a movie theater and is "The Highest Rated movie in the DPRK" it would be considered a propaganda film. But America does it than it's just a "classic" movie.

[Sun Wukong]

Its a high end propaganda film. Like Zero Dark Thirty and that other movie that came out last year about those stupid navy seals. I mean it's obvious that it is. If North Korea makes a military film and shows it to its citizens in a movie theater and is "The Highest Rated movie in the DPRK" it would be considered a propaganda film. But America does it than it's just a "classic" movie.

Yeah... no one is going to call this a "classic." Most of the people calling it stupid propaganda are Americans.

Also we really can't say shit because we weren't in Iraq or directed the movie.

Oh, what a load of shit.