Free Dortch

This movie is the apotheosis of America’s particular brand of self-centered ignorance. Watching this film it was hard to view it as anything other than propaganda. The cinematic elements it tried to incorporate into itself were so shallow and surface level I couldn’t believe this was a critically acclaimed film. I found myself constantly waiting for the story to actually start. Every action the protagonist takes is self-righteous and there is literally 0 conflict in his mind despite the acts he commits. He kills men, women, and children without batting an eye and his only regret is that he couldn’t save more of his own guys. But of course every Iraqi he kills is for a justified cause. The Iraqi people shown in this film are all depicted as wholly evil villains. Not only are they villains, they are also idiots with no sense of self preservation. A child is shown watching a man with a rocket launcher shot by our justified protagonist, Chris Kyle, right before his eyes. Does the child run? Does the child hide? No. The child proceeds to pick up the rocket launcher and stand in the same spot the dead man stood and attempt to fire it. Not even children are safe from the director’s goal of vilifying the entire country. There is very little effort put into portraying Iraqi people as anything other than fodder for the “good guys” to shoot and kill. No Iraqi characters have any meaningful dialogue or personalities at all. Chris Kyle’s arch-enemy Iraqi sniper, Mustafa, has exactly 0 lines in the entire movie. This is a movie that shows exactly 1 perspective and offers no other perspectives an opportunity to exist. The world American Sniper portrays is one that has exactly three types of people. “Sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs.” If you aren’t a sheepdog, or supporter of the military, then you must either be evil or a sheep who cannot think for themselves.