For a moment there, it seemed no one could stop talking about "American Sniper." The big box office smash was the focus of lots of think pieces and opinions, particularly in regards to how it portrayed the people who sniper Chris Kyle, played by Bradley Cooper, put into his gunsight. Some said Clint Eastwood's film was apolitical, others read it as a movie endorsing Middle East intervention, while others didn't think it had a message at all. But the filmmaker has shed some light on the lingering questions his movie has left behind.
Speaking with students at Loyola Marymount University School of Film & TV, Eastwood said about his movie: “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].” But the question is whether or not he actually succeeded.
On the one hand, the...
