American Sniper 🇺🇸

 American Sniper.

    Last night, I started watching American Sniper. American Sniper is a movie based off of the life of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. It essentially follows his journey of being a Texas cowboy, and eventually applying for the Navy SEALs. He then passes his tests and is deployed to Iraq, dealing with the war on terror, following the attack on 9/11. While over there, Chris Kyle quickly builds a reputation for being a distinguished sharp-shooter, racking up a massive number of kills.

    This wasn’t my first time watching the film. In fact, I believe I went to go see it once in theatres, many, many years ago. The film came out over 10 years ago, so it’s had time to make the turns and build a reputation for being a great film. The entire story of Chris Kyle’s life is one where most men look up in awe, and appreciate his sacrifice and courage he demonstrated, while still being alive. He was willing to protect and provide for not only his family, but for his country as well. Overall, he was a true solider.

    The only thing I cannot seem to shake from my mind, after having re-watched it last night, are the similarities between the film and the short-movie shown in Inglorious Basterds. Inglorious Basterds is one of my favourite films. The film is masterly put together, with an extreme list of high quality, talented actors. These actors create a world where the entire film is a non-stop entertainment ride, despite the gravity of the subject. Any war move has a heavy tone to it, regardless of what day and age.

    Inglorious Basterds has a scene, where Hitler and the Nazi’ are assembled in a theatre in France. They’ve all gathered there, to watch one of Hitler’s top propaganda minister’s latest masterpiece, following a young German solider. This German soldier is a sharp-shooter, who escapes with his life while being pinned down in a heavy-conflict zone in France. This battle is of pure entertainment for the Nazi’s, who observe the young German soldier position himself atop a clock tower, and eventually kill over 100 men.

    What keeps on drawing my mind to this scene, is how they are received. When Chris Kyle is stationed up on his ledge, keeping overwatch on his soldiers down below, he constantly eliminated all opposition with a single bullet. The non-stop lock and reload of his rifle, as he takes down any threat which appears before him. While watching this, most individuals cannot help but feel a sense of pride or accomplishment, as the so-called enemy is eliminated and sent to oblivion. I remember when the movie first came out, over 10 years ago, the American people could not help but cheer with each and every kill, as they honoured their war-hero.

    Inglorious Basters is no different. The German soldier who perched up on the ledge, was viewed as a war-hero as well. With every single kill that he achieved, the audience would stand up and cheer. The entire cinema was going ballistic (no pun intended), as the young soldier eliminated his enemies one by one. If you were to take both films, and put them side-by-side, they would be identical in the sense that they both portrayed the same events. And yet, while watching the young German- we all view it as propaganda. 

    Propaganda is one of the most effective forms of art. That much, we have discovered long ago. Repeating the same lies or deceptions, over and over again, eventually sinks into the viewers mind and becomes their new reality. The young German solider, killing so many allied-forces in his short-film, becomes a celebratory scene. Chris Kyle, killing so many of the Al-Quada terrorist in Iraq, also becomes a celebratory scene. The parallels between the German film and the American film become too much to ignore. Eventually, one can’t help but ponder on the fact that these two regimes echo in similarities.

    What keeps on bugging me, is that we are taught that one is a net-positive, and one is negative. That one of the these films is a great accomplishment, where we should celebrate his every kill. While the other, we are taught to view as straight propaganda, and view the people cheering it on as nothing more than monsters. If those citizens are monsters in our eyes, imagine how other nations view us in the West. Eventually, the lines blur, and the realization occurs where you understand that we are one and the same as the Germans. That we are essentially everything which they wished to be. That their ambitions and goals to conquer Europe and the world, eventually fell and allowed us here in the West to achieve it instead. 

    War is a complex issue. Anybody who views it as simple good vs. bad are a few cents short of a dollar. They’re definitely a couple yards short of a football field. They may or may not be a couple shells short of a full clip. They may be … okay, you get the point. It’s complicated. As are most things in life. War is a cruel, yet sometimes necessary, aspect of it. As much as we’d all like for things to be butterflies and rainbows, reality says otherwise. Whenever humans are involved, chaos is bound to follow. It’s simply our way of life.

    Chris Kyle was an American hero, who saved countless of lives while eliminated others. I guaranteed that, upon speaking to his fellow soldiers who were deployed with him overseas, one would quickly realize how heroic he was. I also guarantee that the individual German soldier who was blowing off the dome’s of Allied forced back in the 1940’s would get the same response. Regardless of which side of the map we live on, perhaps there’s a deeper meaning to all of it. Perhaps we should just be grateful that there are individuals willing to lay down their lives to protect their fellow countrymen. And perhaps, we can all do a better job at trying to bridge the gaps between ourselves and others.

At the end of the day, we all share more in common, than we do different.

        Glory Be,

                    Amen.