“Appalling” American Sniper “dehumanizes” Muslims and Arabs

[noddy]

aI1fqOELQ48

hope things been well mr hoosier.

[Hoosiernorm]

aI1fqOELQ48

hope things been well mr hoosier.

Have been so busy with work and my kids I don't know how I keep track of myself. I do miss the time I had to talk to so many of you but I just can't find the time.

[Zack Morris]

Seriously dude, it sounds like you a living in a cultural dessert.

Why yes, I live beneath the brittle crust of a crème brûlée.

Have you considered moving, or at least getting some new friends?

Why? I've got you.

[noddy]

yoghurt is the only culture in america!

(ripped off an english joke about australians)

[Simple Minded]

Seriously dude, it sounds like you a living in a cultural dessert.

Why yes, I live beneath the brittle crust of a crème brûlée.

Have you considered moving, or at least getting some new friends?

Why? I've got you.

Is that a banana in your pants? Or are you just glad to see me?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BERd61bDY7k

[Doc]

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/01 ... ud-expect/

‘American Sniper’ Is Getting Rave Reviews From Moviegoers in One of the Last Places You’d Expect

Jan. 31, 2015 3:08pm Zach Noble

It’s a film in which hundreds of Iraqi Muslim insurgents are shot — and many Iraqis apparently love it.

“American Sniper,” the story of America’s deadliest sniper Chris Kyle, has already become the highest-grossing U.S. war movie of all time at the domestic box office, and it’s getting some unexpected love overseas: from Iraqis.

(Image via United States Forces Iraq/flickr)
An Iraqi soldier stands in front of the Iraqi and American flags. (Image via United States Forces Iraq/flickr)

According to a Wednesday article in the Global Post, audiences throughout Iraq packed theaters and empathized with Kyle’s moral dilemmas — such as when the sniper sees a woman and child with a grenade approaching American troops.

“Some people watching were just concentrating, but others were screaming ‘F***, shoot him! He has an IED, don’t wait for permission!’” recalled one Iraqi moviegoer, speaking of a packed theater in Baghdad’s Mansour Mall.

The movie is playing well outside of Baghdad, too.

“The Kurds don’t like the Baghdadis that much so they have no big problem seeing them getting shot by an American,” a film executive who operates theaters in Iraq told Deadline. “So far, ["American Sniper"] is working well for our screens in Kurdistan [the unofficial name for the region of northern Iraq occupied primarily by Kurds].”

There has been some backlash, and the theater that was showing the movie in Mansour Mall yanked the film a week ago “because the hero of this film boasts of killing more than 160 Muslims,” an employee told the Post.

College student Omar Jalal said he’s disappointed that the Mansour Mall theater isn’t showing the movie any more.

“He was a hero and he went through difficult training,” Jalal said of Kyle. “Besides, it’s just a movie, and I like war movies. If they are true or not, whatever.”

The Iraqi appreciation for “American Sniper” is an interesting counterpoint to those who claim the movie is racist, and fits with the description of Kyle given by an Iraqi Muslim interpreter, who said, ”I think the ones calling Chris Kyle racist are racists.”

[Alexis]

- Definitely a good war movie. Rythm, realistic reconstruction of violence, a story that holds together - well, it's a real life, centered around the perspective of a small military unit - it's Kyle's perspective, good acting.

Not a great movie I wouldn't go that far. A few things are badly filmed - a scene with a baby, also an assault by Iraqi insurgents who behave like jerks and get slaughtered, displaying unrealistic lack of skill.

The best thing about it I'd say is that the portrait of Kyle puts us in front of the guy's mystery. Assuming the movie is realistic relative to the real person, we are left wondering who was really this guy. An American patriot to be sure, a good husband, a committed soldier devoted to his comrades in arm, a good father, a son whom his father raised to be "a shepherd dog" aiming to protect the weak, yes all of that... but something doesn't click. The guy is too perfect - just like his wife also is too perfect. Actor Bradley Cooper does a fine job of letting us feel that something is amiss... in my opinion at least. The other option would be that the movie is just a hagiography for an idealized deceased fellow.

- On the political, the movie is clearly puting us into Kyle's world. In that world, not only are Iraqi insurgents plain evil - which is the reason they keep attacking US soldiers - it's mere doubt about the mission which is lethal. When one of his buddies, who was expressing unease and doubts about the war, is killed in combat, Kyle concludes that it's not the platoon's tactical error who killed him - which an external observer might have concluded... - but the doubts he was entertaining: he lost his focus, and "paid the price for that" as Kyle character explains.

Kyle - the movie character not the writer, I haven't read the book and don't intend to - sincerely believes not only that Iraq war is apt reprisal for 9/11 attacks, but that by fighting in Iraq he protects his family back home. If US soldiers weren't in Iraq, terrorists would come to America. The name of Saddam Hussein is not cited once in the movie, but it's safe to assume Kyle as portrayed believes Saddam was responsible for 9/11.

Iraqi insurgents are cruel. Some scenes are gruesome and should absolutely not be seen by kids, nor I would say by teenagers. By contrast, not only do US soldiers display no cruelty, US forces do not kill a single person but those who fought them in the first place, not even a single collateral damage happens, not even any instance of "rough interrogation". At least, not in the movie.

A few scenes only are more ambiguous. The insurgent sniper whom Kyle is dueling with is shown briefly in his family - he has a kid too, he looks very much like Kyle. Just a few seconds no more, but still a little crack in the portrait of those evil fanatics.

Also, and here I really was surprised, the scene when Kyle and his fiancée are looking the TV set in shock at 9/11 news, the presenter says something like "it really looks like this building was demolished, though of course it's not that". It's quite possible that such a thing was uttered by one of the journalists, but hey it can't be a coincidence that we are made to hear precisely this comparison, the stuff of conspiracy theories. Why this scene? Well, part of me thinks Eastwood is being facetious... part of me thinks he's just a good seller of movies and wants to give a little to every prospective audience. Money first.

- Small unit loyalty, individual bravery, no questions asked to the leadership. Remembers me a text studied in Latin class when I was 13, some classical author I don't remember his name was praising the model fine young man - who bravely fights for Rome - along with the model fine woman - who is a beauty a good wife and mother. Our teacher asked us: something is missing in that picture... can you spot what?

We were unable to, neither boys nor girls. Hey, all I wanted was to be a brave guy with a beautiful good wife and mother for my children, and the others probably also would have been content with that... we were 13 or 14, remember?

The teacher had to help us: "In this picture, who is thinking?".

Indeed, who is thinking? And the answer was: the elderer men, that's whom.

Those old men who decided to start that war. Those old men nowhere to be seen in that movie. Remember how Cheney explained his escaping military service? "I had other priorities". Remember how Bush served his country during the Vietnam war? In the National Guard air units, that's how. Protecting America against Vietcong bombers.

There was nothing wrong with Kyle. He was a fine soldier. Those who brand him a killer or a coward are plain wrong: he was killing fighters, which is what is being done in war, and he was killing efficiently, which again is what is being done in war not maximizing risk to oneself and one's comrades. As for calling the enemy "savages"... come on, do you think soldiers in combat will speak nicely of their enemies? Also, what is more serious: name-calling, or waging a war?

Chris Kyle was a fine young man, and Taya Kyle is a fine young woman. In the classical understanding of those words. Classical Rome would have been proud, and America - or is it modern Rome - can be proud.

Also, if America lets again old men deciding alone when how and why to go to war, if Americans all are fine young men and women the like of Chris and Taya Kyle, everything will be ready for a third run, after Vietnam and Iraq.

[Doc]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/cl ... ar-AA9QfeV

Clint Eastwood Describes His Near-Death Experience, Says 'American Sniper' Is Anti-War (Exclusive)

Asked if the picture glorified war, he replied: “I think it’s nice for veterans, because it shows what they go through, and that life — and the wives and families of veterans. It has a great indication of the stresses they are under. And I think that all adds up to kind of an anti-war [message].”

Is Eastwood himself anti-war? “Yes,” he said. “I've done war movies because they’re always loaded with drama and conflict. But as far as actual participation … it’s one of those things that should be done with a lot of thought, if it needs to be done. Self-protection is a very important thing for nations, but I just don’t like to see it.”

He added: “I was not a big fan of going to war in Iraq or Afghanistan, for several reasons, several practical reasons. One, [in] Afghanistan, the British had never been successful there; the Russians had 10 years there and hadn’t been successful… Iraq, I know, was a different deal, because there was a lot of intelligence that told us that bad things could happen there, and we’re never sure how that ended up, whether it was pro or con. [But] I tend to err on the side of less is best.”