Broadcast this Monday, November 18, 2024 on France 3, American Sniper looks back on the journey of Chris Kyle, US army sniper in Iraq. A soldier tragically disappeared in 2013.
In Hollywood, we are often quick to return to recent events or conflicts in history. This was the case in the 70s and especially the 80s for the Vietnam War, with masterpieces like Platoonbased on the memories of its director Oliver Stone, soldier in “Nam”, or Apocalypse Nowa masterpiece by Francis Ford Coppola with Dantesque filming. The invasion of Iraq by Uncle Sam’s army in 2003 also gave rise to a number of feature films in the 2000s. Minesweepers by Kathryn Bigelow, a shocking film which could not be filmed on the scene of the action for obvious security reasons. Broadcast this Monday, November 18, 2024 at 9:05 p.m. on France 3, American Sniper also plunges into the Iraqi quagmire.
How did Chris Kyle, hero ofAmerican Sniper ?
Released in February 2015 in French cinemas, American Sniper is directed by Clint Eastwood, veteran of US cinema. This action film follows Chris Kyle, one of the US Army’s most precise snipers in Iraq. While he is faced with a terrible conscience, he gradually remembers his youth and his commitment, after the terrorist attacks against the American embassies in Africa in 1998. This military biography, austere and with sometimes very difficult images , is led by a very convincing Bradley Cooper, even if he was not the filmmaker’s first choice. A real hit in theaters, especially in the United States, Clint Eastwood’s biggest commercial success behind the camera with more than $547 million in worldwide revenue, the film is adapted from the real life of Chris Kyle. Considered a hero across the Atlantic, officially responsible for the elimination of 160 people in Iraq, the latter tragically disappeared in 2013. After his return to the country in 2009, Kyle provided help to veterans. On the advice of his mother, he agrees to take in a certain Eddie Ray Mouth, suffering from post-traumatic disorders and schizophrenia. While both were at a shooting range on February 2, 2013 for a session intended to be therapeutic, Mouth shot Chris Kyle and a friend, who both died. Found by the police, the shooter claims to have believed it was a trap set by his army. He will be sentenced to life in February 2015. Chris Kyle will be entitled to a state funeral.
Clint Eastwood, director at the heart of the news
Behind the camera, Clint Eastwood has recently often drawn inspiration from current events or true stories to make his films. So 3:17 p.m. for Parisreleased in theaters in 2018, looked back on the failed attack against the Thalys in 2015, while Le Cas Richard Jewell (2020) focused on a man accused of being the author of the attack which devastated the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. An author in touch with his times, therefore, despite his great age (he is now 94 years old ).
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