Oscar-Nominated film American Sniper came to theaters on January 16th, and since its release has not escaped a moment of controversy in the global media. The Clint Eastwood film follows the life of Chris Kyle, the most lethal sniper in U.S. history, on his four tours to Iraq. However, the film has faced controversy for the manner in which the Iraqis were portrayed in the film and has eventually simmered down to the debate over whether Chris Kyle himself was a racist.
A New York Post article discusses the main disagreement of the controversy; an NBC reporter allegedly described Kyle as having “racist tendencies towards Iraqis and Muslims when he was going on some of these…killing sprees in Iraq.” This led to an outrage by members of the military who were enraged that someone who nobly fought for his country could be questioned in character.
The truth of the matter is that Chris Kyle’s beliefs are irrelevant. The debate of his character is futile—it is impossible to know the inner thoughts and subtleties of this man. Conversely, this debate has acted as a scapegoat for a bigger question behind American Sniper: is this film inherently racist?
Throughout the film, the Iraqis are portrayed as brutal, dishonest people who will go to any means to eradicate the American soldiers. Some of the more poignant representations of this include an Iraqi terrorist drilling the head of a man as well as an Iraqi mother sending her young son on a suicide mission.
What American Sniper fails to achieve is a range of people and their beliefs. Where are the moderates? The film portrays the war between the two countries as a black and white matter; both sides believe that they are right without question or consideration of the other point of view. In an interview with an Iraqi interpreter for Chris Kyle during his tours, the interpreter described times that Kyle would laugh and joke with the Iraqi soldiers who helped them fight the extremist groups; yet, this aspect remained untouched in the film.
American Sniper does not fairly represent the real world, though it claims to be a biographical war film. This is not because of the “racist tendencies” of the man it was based on nor the extreme representations of the Iraqis in the film; this is because of the omission of all other groups in between which would have provided an increasingly well-rounded and complete snapshot of the entire story.