American Sniper has turned out to be the dark horse in this year’s Oscar race, landing six nominations last Thursday despite being largely ignored by other awards shows. (It received no Golden Globe or SAG nominations.) Directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Bradley Cooper, the film is based on Navy SEAL Chris Kyle’s autobiography of the same name—which, in turn, is based on Kyle’s memory. The book will serve as “fact” for the purposes of this article, as it and conversations with Kyle were the film’s primary source material.
Kyle, who served four tours between 2003 and 2009, is the most lethal sniper in American history: The government credits him with 160 confirmed kills. (The previous record was 109, set during the Vietnam war.) Kyle was involved in the making of this movie; he discussed his life and book with Cooper and screenwriter Jason Hall. He was killed on February 2, 2013–just one day after screenwriter Hall submitted his script. The piece was then amended through conversations between Hall and Kyle’s wife, Taya, as well as conversations between Taya and Eastwood, Hall, and Cooper. Taya has spoken positively of the movie, saying it’s “brought her husband back to life.”
The movie has come under heated criticism. It has been accused of glorifying the life of a bloodthirsty killer, being ignorant of the U.S. criminality in Iraq, acting as pro-war propaganda, and over-indulging in depictions of the local culture’s “savagery.” Kyle does call Iraqis ”savages” and “evil” in his book, and while he hesitates before his first sniper kill, that is the only instance of doubt he records. Kyle’s only mention of torture comes in the descriptions of torture he and his fellow SEALs endured during training.
Kyle also discusses the rules of engagement more than once in his book. While those mentions are rarely positive—often, Kyle writes that he feels bound to follow rules that his opponents do not—he always details complying. That said, Kyle’s own credibility was called into question after he claimed that he beat up former Minnesota governor and professional wrestler Jesse Ventura, that the government paid him to shoot looters from the Superdome following Hurricane Katrina, and that he shot and killed two carjackers in Dallas. None of these claims have been verified; Ventura has since won a defamation lawsuit against Kyle’s estate.
Only an allusion to the Ventura incident appears in his book. In the text, Kyle beats up a guy in a bar he calls “Scruff Face”; in post-publication interviews, he identified the character as Ventura. Neither of the other two incidents appear in the book or movie. As for specific changes between Eastwood’s film and its source material: