Movie Review: American Sniper

This is one of those movies that I won't easily forget. I'm not quite sure why. Being an ex military wife, I appreciate the sacrifices made by the military person and by their families. Not to minimize it or anything, but that's not what the big deal was in this movie. At least not for me. Maybe it's because it's a true story. Or perhaps it's because the hero in the movie does things I can't even begin to imagine having to do and then try to live a normal life afterwards...not that he did live a normal life afterwards. Maybe it was because of how his life turned out...I won't spoil the movie by talking about its ending. Whatever it is about this movie and Chris Kyle himself that touches me, I'm not alone. The near silence of the entire theater when the movie ended and when filing out of the theater tells me I'm not the only one who was so touched. And hearing from other friends in different states, they experienced the same silence by the entire theater when they saw the movie, too.

We live amongst real evil. I know our country is far from perfect, but I can't even imagine having to occupy the same space with some of those barbarians in Iraq who gain incomprehensible pleasure in torture and murder. I hate war as much as the next person, but I know it has to happen sometimes. Seeing this movie with the evil enemy, as told by the American Sniper himself, confirms there was a real need being there. I trusted our president back then when he sent troops there and ignored the people who criticized him for doing so. This story just made it real for me. Patriotism seems to be nearly dead in America...until biographies like this one comes to light. Then it gets real. God bless our troops, past and present, and their families who sacrificed and continue to sacrifice their loved ones for our country, our safety, and our freedom. They don't just fight for Americans. They also fight for the safety and freedom for complete strangers in a barbaric land that will probably never show appreciation. Like the method or don't, but I don't even want to think about how many more American military lives would be lost if we didn't have those like Chris Kyle, "one of the most lethal snipers in American history."  He has my respect.