Some films transcend the screen because they come at a time when society demands something concrete and an emblem that reflects today's society.
American Sniper had the best premiere of Clint's career in the US, UK, New Zealand, Italy and Peru, six Oscar nominations... And all of this, while the consensus was that the films set in Iraq They were pure box office poison.
Remember that "In Hostile Land," Bigelow's Oscar-winning film grossed $17 million in the United States.
American Sniper is in its second week with nearly $200 million at the box office.
Is it really that good?
The answer is no.
American Sniper is a very decent and excellent movie in many ways, but its biggest factor is celebrating a man whose talent is killing people when they're not watching...
There is no moral arc in the film, there are no regrets for finding out if the murder is or is there some guilt in doing so.
The film practically begins with one of these table speeches from a father to his sons and Clint Eastwood, both of whom.
"In life there are lambs, wolves and those who defend lambs from wolves: sheepdogs."
The story Eastwood is trying to sell is that of a man who becomes that sheepdog who defends his country from those who try to invade it.
The real prism is another, the Iraqis defend their soil while the Americans seize it.
The real Chris Kyle, the protagonist of the film, has in his memories that he did not care:
"Fuck Irakis"
and he continues to refer to them as.
"Wild"
“After the first death, the others come easily, I don't have to prepare myself mentally for it.I look through the telescope, put my target on the crosshead, and kill my enemy before he kills one of my own."
He sums up the meaning of war in which any sentiment of reason imposed by him is obscured by the patriot.
And this is where the film comes into play outside the United States, where we are much more to offer ourselves a reading of the image of the world.
For a decade, the United States condemned the violation of human rights in Cuba while maintaining one in Guantánamo that openly violated them.
Americans like and like to see only where heroes are interested and where they are, and why American Sniper is becoming a hero because he provides a celluloid hero accused of satirizing and questioning Islam, but Muslim.
"Kill every man you see. That wasn't the official language, but the idea was."
Chris Kyle wrote in his biographical book.
George Orwell wrote in his Notes on Nationalism that.
“The nationalists not only do not disapprove of the atrocities committed by their side, but they have a remarkable ability not even to listen to them. Whether these events were reprehensible or even occurred were always decided by political predilections."
The controversy that interests me most is due to the fact that since the film's release, threats against Arabs and Muslims in the United States have tripled.
Radicalizing our opinions about a community does nothing more than radicalize the opinions of that community, training itself helplessly to seek consolation where they find it, and if the West, led by a doctrine of towards its people, does not listen to them, they seek another strengthening of opinions and beliefs.
Lately, art has been used as an instrument of power and more recently as a power of political offense to coexistence and normalization.
We have recent examples: the interview sparked conflict between opposing nations, Charlie Hebdo caused rivers of blood to flow...
On both sides, the power of creation is to exert an incendiary provocation that only leads to good except lack of atonement and self-blame.
Eastwood deploys his cinematic weapons to achieve this effect: Iraqis are never treated as corn characters as a threatening background, none of them have personalities, they are just targets.
Everyone dies the first time.Americans are dying on stage in spurts of blood so we can see the cruelty.
And the only time an Iraqi suffers is at the hands of the cruelty of his own people.
Kyle, the real Kyle, was an average worker who lost the meaning of his life; he saw people he identified being murdered in other parts of the world and decided to enlist.