‘American Sniper’ has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Film, and its star Bradley Cooper for Best Actor.
Based on the book by US Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, it now seems many of the ‘facts’ in the book and the film are nothing more than half-truths or downright lies. Hollywood, however, decided to build on those lies and create a movie that seems to be little more than fiction yet is being sold as ‘fact’. One of the lies director Clint Eastwood chose to keep in the movie is that the Iraq War took place because of the events of 9/11, which was done in an attempt to get the audience on Chris Kyle’s side.
While ‘American Sniper’ shows Kyle being agonized by his actions, nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, Chris Kyle always spoke about the people he killed as being “savage” and said he wished he could have killed more. The Iraqi sniper who becomes Kyle’s main enemy in the movie is barely mentioned in the book, yet Eastwood decided to base much of the story around the man, thus building Kyle up into a hero being plagued by an ever existent enemy.
Chris Kyle seems to have been a consummate liar, as is evidenced by his telling of many stories that couldn’t be proven, but two stories in particular. One of murdering two men when he was carjacked in Texas, and another of killing 30 people in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Both stories have been called ‘lies’ by more legitimate sources, including police departments in both places.
Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura took Kyle to court and won a settlement of almost $2 million after it was proven Kyle lied about him in his book. Finally, to prove what a despicable human being Chris Kyle seems to have been, although he said most of the money he made from the book he wrote was given to charity, in reality The National Review proved the facts were much different.
While only $52,000 was given to charity, Chris Kyle kept more than $2 million for himself. While it seems sad director Clint Eastwood chose to make a money based on lies and half-truths and call it ‘factual’, there is a backlash growing against ‘American Sniper’, which may prove to be its undoing when it comes to Oscar night itself.