From a Twitter post from Rupert Murdoch:
Hollywood leftists trash American Hero, show how completely out of touch they are with America. Bravo Clint Eastwood!
And a follow-on Twitter post:
“Yes, American Sniper!”
The mystery is how this movie became yet another flash point in the left-right cultural wars. Other than noting America’s shock, anguish, and desire for revenge after 9/11, Director Clint Eastwood assiduously avoids commentary about US involvement in Iraq; the movie is essentially politics-free. It is primarily a character study of Chris Kyle and his deteriorating relationship with his wife and family over four tours of duty in Iraq. Eastwood shows the courage of Kyle and his comrades in arms. How can that be controversial? The courage of soldiers facing the prospect of their own and their friends’ instant death or dismemberment in battle is unquestionable, and throughout America’s wars its soldiers have responded with valor and heroism. The battle scenes are well done, but it’s not a war movie in the traditional mold. We don’t even know who wins the battles. In real life, it seems clear that Chris Kyle had other problems in addition to having a difficult time adjusting to life away from the war (see “Truth, Justice and the Curious Case of Chris Kyle,” SLL, 1/18/15). However Eastwood wanted a no-wrinkles movie about a hero and certainly didn’t have to mention or account for those flaws. It’s a movie, not a nothing-but-the-truth documentary. A few wrinkles, both in the war scenes and with Chris Kyle’s character, might have made for a better film, but that’s a dramatic, not a political judgment.
