American Sniper deserves award

By MEL ROTHENBURGER

ARTS/ ENTERTAINMENT — American Sniper didn’t win the Oscar for Best Picture tonight (that honour went to the brilliant though puzzling Birdman), but it should get an award for current events or maybe for spurring public dialogue.

As the trial of Eddie Ray Routh, charged with the murders of Chris Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield unfolds, the debate continues on whether American Sniper is a pro-war or anti-war movie.

There was even a theory going around that an Oscar win for American Sniper might affect the outcome of the trial.

It’s a dumb argument. Kyle (ably played by Bradley Cooper), credited with some 160 kills in the Iraq war, saw the issue in black and white. He had a job to do — protecting American troops — and he did it to the best of his ability, which was considerable.

Kyle was a fine sniper but not a very good author. Still, his book, which led to the movie, reveals a man who claimed to feel no guilt for his role in the war. He was given a mission; he was good, maybe the best, at it.

At the same time, though, both the book and the movie have a bit of “he doth protest too much” in Kyle’s insistence that his only regret was that he couldn’t protect more “good guys” by offing more “bad guys.”

American Sniper explores PTSD in a new way; instead of viewing himself as a victim, Kyle thought of himself as neither victim nor hero, yet clearly struggled with the ethics and horror of war.

This is a movie, and book (and, by the way, this is one of those rare cases where it actually helps to read the book first), that is ambivalent on the issue of glorification or condemnation of war.

Many American war movies, of course, suffer from no such ambiguity. Remember John Wayne in Green Beret? U.S. good, Commies bad. Top Gun? More recently, Inglourious Basterds? Full Metal jacket — the list goes on. They all take a stand.

It’s hard to decide which side American Sniper the movie is on, and that’s part of what makes it so good.

And, here’s a tip on Birdman, a brilliant but confusing film starring Michael Keaton as a washed-up actor trying to make a comeback with a Broadway play. Google the hell out of it before you go to the theatre. You’ll find various interpretations of certain aspects of the film, and you’ll get enough clues to try to figure it out for yourself as you watch.

Otherwise, if you’re like me, you’ll wonder what’s going on half the time.