Seven Big Lies 'American Sniper' Is Telling America

To be honest, I haven't seen the movie and have no desire to. Glorifying what my country did after 9/11, and making the players out to be "heroes" disgusts me. I'm not sure if all these lies are told in the movie, but they disagree with the book, which claims to be autobiographical. I found the article interesting. I know... it's only a movie, and therefore bound to sensationalize the story, but people in this country are believing this crap and making Kyle out to be some kind of hero... It's nothing but a war propaganda piece, IMO.

Source

1. The Film Suggests the Iraq War Was In Response To 9/11
...
3. The Film Portrays Chris Kyle as Tormented By His Actions: In the book, Kyle refers to everyone he fought as “savage, despicable” evil... I only wish I had killed more... “I loved what I did. I still do. If circumstances were different – if my family didn't need me – I'd be back in a heartbeat. I'm not lying or exaggerating to say it was fun.
4. The Real Chris Kyle Made Up A Story About Killing Dozens of People In Post-Katrina New Orleans
5. The Real Chris Kyle Fabricated A Story About Killing Two Men Who Tried To Carjack Him In Texas
6. Chris Kyle Was Successfully Sued For Lying About the Former Governor of Minnesota
7. Chris Kyle's Family Claimed He Donated His Book Proceeds To Veterans' Charity, But He Kept Most Of The Profits

Seems like there were plenty of lies he put forth in his life, so why shouldn't the book and movie be full of lies, too?

Of course, Sarah Palin had a predictable response to criticism of the film...

“Hollywood leftists: While caressing shiny plastic trophies you exchange among one another while spitting on the graves of freedom fighters who allow you to do what you do, just realize the rest of America knows you're not fit to shine Chris Kyle's combat boots,” Palin wrote in a Facebook message late Monday.

Yes, Sarah, the war in Iraq was to protect our free speech rights. Keep telling yourself that.

the sniper movie is the creation of a war hero. facts are typically lost when discussing a created hero.

I don't know the guy in question, so wont judge him outside of he went to war, he did his service, and end of the day, some people came home because of his actions...so, props. But yeah, he probably had plenty of darkness in him that wasn't discussed in the movie.
goes against the hero creation narrative.


Was a good movie though, in regards to movies in general. It seemed that although it was a war movie and such, its main focus was actually ptsd suffering as its main message...maybe it will be an inspiration to those back who are quietly suffering to go seek out some help.

So Hollywood made a movie and didn't get all the facts right.
That's just one more movie on a very long list of movies that Hollywood glossed over the details to try to tell the story their way.

Whether a war is right or wrong doesn't take away from what acts of heroism happened. Is killing a whole rack of people heroic? Probably not. One could debate it all day long, and frankly I can see both sides.

Is using your body to cover a grenade and sacrificing yourself to protect others heroic? Is standing your post and going cyclic while a truck full of explosives hurtles towards you, knowing that even if you kill the driver, the truck will still reach your post and cost you your life in the ensuing explosion yet save dozens of other lives behind you, heroic?

I would say yes. Whether the war was right or wrong, moral or immoral, the fact is people performed acts of great courage and bravery to protect others. Whether they should've been there or not is immaterial to that fact. They were there, and they did what they did.

Chris Kyle was a legend. And at the end of his life, he bought into his own legend too much. But neither that, nor the debate about the war itself, should diminish what others did.

Up here in the Great White north we call stuff like this US/BS.
The movie should have been called American POS.
No wonder the kids are all screwed up.....hero my ass..............

The guy was a 'kill junkie'.

I'm not judging he may be a good man or a bad person. What he did was kill.....the truth is what it is.

(I haven't seen the movie but it sounds great. I just wish it was closer to the truth.)

For the record.
I have not seen the movie nor do I have plans to.
I do not like how movies show real people.
I don't want to watch selma
The butler
Milk
The aviator
Or any other "based on a true story" movie

Erin brokovich and amastad ruined those type of movies for me.

a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

I saw Milk being filmed, the scene where they're marching at night and he has the megaphone.

But back on topic I don't watch them either, to me, if you need fancy lighting and makeup to tell the story of an individual, you're glossing over every aspect of their life.

Hollywood portrays the world as they see fit, reality is often thrown out the window in favor of dramatic license and a "more exciting storyline".

Well that's hollywood for ya. I thought the movie was great! The propaganda thing sort of went out the window for me when a few soldiers in the movie started questioning why they were even there and that they "want to believe in what they are doing there" not very good propaganda with that in it.

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

Sarah Palin had a predictable response

With emphasis on "predictable"

So, it's Hollywood leftists and not just, "Hollywood". She left herself some wiggle room in case the movie sweeps the Oscars. Then it if wins she can praise the wisdom of those good people in the Academy who still hold American values and if it loses she can blame the Hollywood leftists.

I saw the movie and it's doing exactly what it was produced, scripted, shot and distributed to do. Make money!



Largest grossing on opening day of any movie in the history of movies, a total box office blowout!! What's that tell ya?

Rag on Hollywood all you want....they don't care!

Get ready for the spinoffs to milk this BS for all it's worth.

I disliked "The Sniper" ....if I want fantasy, I'll go see "The Hobbit"

originally posted by: Shepard64
Well that's hollywood for ya. I thought the movie was great! The propaganda thing sort of went out the window for me when a few soldiers in the movie started questioning why they were even there and that they "want to believe in what they are doing there" not very good propaganda with that in it.

The irony is those soldiers volunteered for duty, they were not drafted. What did they expect a free vacation?

originally posted by: Hoosierdaddy71
For the record.
I have not seen the movie nor do I have plans to.
I do not like how movies show real people.
I don't want to watch selma
The butler
Milk
The aviator
Or any other "based on a true story" movie

Erin brokovich and amastad ruined those type of movies for me.

"I'm with you 99% here Daddy. The tendency to romanticize the person the movie is about is just to strong. All the schmaltz and glorifying and demonizing of the villains turning so many of these movies into nothing more than good guy bad buy fictions is sad.

The 1% though is from the movies "Temple Grandin" staring Claire Danes and " Milk" portrayed by Jeff Spicoli. These two, due to the absolutely brilliant acting were well worth wading through the "feel good" baloney.

Last based on a true story movie I watched was Zero Dark Thirty...

Promised myself after that I'd never put myself through anything like that again.



Clear agendas to glorify the War...
Which even the most ardent Soldiers will tell us, is not what should be done.




The narcissistic may glorify things, like the Soldier in question with his less than admirable declaration of enjoyment...


That's not the reality... Hence, the film itself is based in fantasy.

originally posted by: TerryMcGuire
The 1% though is from the movies "Temple Grandin" staring Claire Danes

Now I'm going to have to see Milk. I LOVED Temple Grandin!

Thanks for the comments everyone!

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

You might want to skip Argo. That has more lies than truth.

a reply to: olaru12

it's doing exactly what it was produced, scripted, shot and distributed to do. Make money!

BOTTOM LINE there olaru. Bottom line.

I think the issue of this or any other movie being propaganda needs to be considered in that context. How much money will it make. By taking the already "fabricated and contrived" likes and dislikes of a fickle American consuming public, then molding a movie to those tastes, those blockbuster profits can be realized. So really, the propaganda is mostly catering to reflect the already established morals and intelligence, or lack of, of the public.

AND

Rag on Hollywood all you want....they don't care!

Zoommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm bang. Boffo Hollywood Box office

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

Sheesh, for a guy whose background says "no h8," you sure appear to have a lot of it.

That aside, you can hear some of it from his own words:



This next video may or may not help you realize that sitting at a computer desk typing out your h8 against this guy and those like him is generally based on ideology and a certain ignorance of what war is like, what it does to many Soldiers, and also what it doesn't do to many Soldiers.



While I disagree with the "why" that we've been overseas since 2002, I don't disagree with the job that people like Chris Kyle did that helped bring our Service Members back home safely to their families--many of whom disagreed with the "why" that they were there while being deployed. I just wish that people who make comments like you could better understand that it's absolutely, 100% possible to still support the individual Service Members but still despise why they are being sent to other countries and asked to put their lives on the line.

As for the movie, it seems as though the Kyle family worked very closely with the directors/producers/actors in the film, so if there are discrepencies, they are minor to the overall story. I will be seeing this movie, hopefully soon, with my wife--I never deployed, but she had to in 2005-2006.

I don't know your personal life story, but if you've never deployed, let alone served, you are writing on a topic about which you are woefully ignorant. It's easy to judge--and as I often do, it's easy to have served and judge--but if you lack that part about serving, then you lack a big part of what gives you any credibility on the topic. It's akin to Michael Moore's recent comments.

I don't think war should ever be "glorified," but portraying war has its place. What also has its place in modern society is the telling of individual stories of those who serve in extraordinary ways, because it helps shine a light on the very, VERY few silver linings in war.

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

Exactly. They're just out to make money. Scariest part is we have people who will always buy into it and pay to watch their products.

5. The Real Chris Kyle Fabricated A Story About Killing Two Men Who Tried To Carjack Him In Texas

That story has a couple of claims that are ridiculous, the main one being that when the police arrived, Kyle gave them a special Dept of Defense phone number to call. They called the number, were told that Kyle was a war hero, and then let him go. I'm not saying the D.O.D. can't overide local police jurisdiction, but in a case like that, it's highly dubious.

There is a legion of Kyle fans who believe that a war hero of his stature is incapable of lying. Detractors say he fabricated stuff to help sell his books.

I'm not saying Kyle wasn't a hero, but I have more respect for the guys who perform heroic deeds and then
fly away under the radar.