Emotions of war

American Sniper portrays the wrenching reality of war

 

 

By STEFAN VELASQUEZ, 11

 

 

American Sniper, starring Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle, is based off the autobiography written by the former U.S. Navy SEAL. He was the most lethal sniper in the U.S. Military’s history with 160 confirmed kills during his four tours of combat over the Middle East. Most notable were his deployments to the First Battle of Fallujah and Second Battle of Fallujah. During the Siege of Sadr City Kyle fired the longest shot of his career and the 5th longest shot recorded in combat,  a 2,100-yard strike against a man armed with a rocket launcher.  He told the New York Post that “God blew that bullet.”

 

The pains, losses and decisions that Kyle had to live with made a huge impact on his life and his family. The film truly captured that and the realism and difficulties that every combat veteran and their families go through.

 

The acting was excellent. I’ve seen Bradley Cooper in other films but he took on this role so well that I did not recognize him. Throughout the movie I never saw Cooper; I only saw the sniper he portrayed. Even Kyle’s wife, Taya Kyle, said watching the movie “would feel like he was still here.” Cooper called the role, “nothing short of life changing” and said they all felt Kyle the whole time they were filming.

 

This film is an especially big hit in Texas because of the local connection. Chris Kyle was born in Texas and attended Midlothian High School. Texans are big supporters of Kyle and his family. It’s probably one of the reasons why the early access viewings included theaters in the Dallas area like AMC at Northpark Center and Cinemark West Plano where Bradley Cooper attended high school.

 

The film is told in 3rd person perspective, as if the viewer is beside Kyle as he goes through his life from the time before deciding to become a Navy SEAL, through his training and deployment, to his abrupt and tragic end on the day of his death and burial. The opening scene really does put the sentiment of the film right on the viewers and shows how hard and how much strength and lack of emotions are required to be any kind of sniper. The setting of the story is during his combat tours but the scenes when he’s back home between tours honestly hit me the hardest.

 

I myself want to go into the Navy and become a Recon Corpsman where I would often work with special units like the SEALs. Often I would see things in the film that would somewhat discourage me from joining but that wasn’t an option for a long time. It’s obvious and common knowledge that war changes a person. You will not come back the same and the people who say that combat never changed them are lying because your duty as a fighter for this country will change you no matter how hard you try to ignore it. It’s scary and I encourage those who plan to do combat in the military to watch American Sniper because the film gives a glimpse on the emotions of war. 

 

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