'Sniper' comes to Germany

Despite six nominations, "American Sniper" only cashed in on one rather unspectacular Oscar earlier this week - for Best Sound Editing. That could dampen its box-office chances in Germany when the film opens on February 26. But even though practically no one here has seen it yet, the ongoing discourse surrounding Clint Eastwood's war drama has still lapped across the Atlantic.

Some would say that "American Sniper" tells the story of a modern-day American war hero. Others, however, would describe the film as the glorification of a killing machine with a narrow world view. Those who criticize Navy Seal sniper Chris Kyle, the subject of the biographical picture, walk over his grave, say the film's defenders in the US. Its critics dub Kyle a psychopathic patriot.

"American Sniper" is based on the memoirs of Kyle, who conducted four missions to Iraq from 2003 to 2009. With 160 victims to his name, he became known as the most effective sniper in the history of the US military and was particularly admired for his ability to shoot from extremely long distances.

After returning from combat, Kyle wrote a bestselling book about his experiences, in which he describes his Iraqi opponents as indescribably evil and recounts how much he enjoyed war.

In a darkly ironic twist of fate, Kyle was killed in a gun accident in Texas in February 2013. The gunman, Eddie Ray Routh, was a veteran Marine who had had also served in Iraq and was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. On Wednesday (25.02.2015) he was convicted of murdering both Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield.

German distrust of American patriotism

In the US, the film has stirred up a fiery debate in recent weeks. On the one hand, conservative politicians like Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich have defended Eastwood's film and called it a modern American epic. Critical voices from the left, like from filmmaker Michael Moore and director Seth Rogan ("The Interview") have been less praiseworthy, even comparing the hype surrounding the film to Nazi propaganda.

In Germany, American patriotism is often met with skepticism, befuddlement and disgust - but occasionally also a touch of jealousy, since World War II has made it impossible for the subsequent generations to be openly proud of their heritage. Furthermore, Germany, unlike France or the UK, did not operate a war mission in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Even though Germany was, with 5,350 soldiers and police officers, the third largest contributor of troops to the ISAF international mission to Afghanistan, issues like combat ethics and traumatized soldiers have never been part of public discourse here - despite 57 German deaths in Afghanistan. With the 20th century still a heavy shadow on collective consciousness, military pride is practically non-existent.

It's not surprising, then, that German reactions to "American Sniper" have been critical. "Clint Eastwood has always had a particularly patriotic vein. Linked to the often preached myth of violence as a justifiable means against injustice and threat, his films overflow with ideologically dubious confrontational dramas between good and evil. This technically perfect but one-sided and repetitive biography of the 'deadliest soldier in American war history' is one of them," wrote the US correspondent for the German film publication Film-Dienst.

It's a film "in the spirit" of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, in which it is not coincidental that political questions play a side role," continued the publication.

"Der Spiegel" referred to Kyle's biography, the basis for "American Sniper," as a "book that celebrates the joy of killing." Kyle's confident self-portrait can easily be read as the psychopathology of a killer in which "dull hate against anything un-American" is preached along with "the naïve belief that the fight for family, the fatherland and God justifies any action."

The "Süddeutsche Zeitung" saw the film more pragmatically: "The debate over America's war on terror shrinks to a banal question that is understandable to everyone. What is more important: job or family?"

Typical Eastwood fare

The discourse surrounding "American Sniper" is best put into the context of Clint Eastwood's earlier films. The 84-year-old actor and director, a confessing Republican, has dealt with war and violence in many of his movies - from both sides of the camera.

Eastwood had his breakthrough in the 1960s playing in Sergio Leone's Westerns "A Fistful of Dollars" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." He laid the foundation for his incomparable success as Joe, the cold-hearted, pistol-slugging cowboy.

"In the US, the 'frontier' is a national myth - that is, the western border that kept moving West over a long period of time, in part with violence," explained Sven Kramer, author of the recent book "Transformationen der Gewalt im Film" (Transformations of violence in film). "The associated images of the man who's completely dependent on himself, who asserts himself in hostile surrounding, are fundamental to the American consciousness."

In 1971, Eastwood played a sniper himself in "Dirty Harry." He was a cynical, ruthless, but highly effective cop. In later films like "Pale Rider," "Unforgiven" and "Gran Torino," Eastwood plays rather broken, multifaceted characters which garnered praise from both conservative and action-loving audiences.

Both Eastwood's tough side and his more reflective wounded side come to the fore in "American Sniper." He shows a stubborn and revengeful Kyle, but doesn't exclude the psychological challenges he faced when returning home from combat in Iraq.

It's both of these sides that make the film worth talking about. They also explain why there are two ways to view it - as a simple war movie that promotes violence and revenge, or as an anti-war film that warns against the consequences of combat for each soldier.

What Clint Eastwood doesn't question, however, is something German society was vocal about back in 2003: Should the US should have invaded Iraq in the first place?

While movie-goers in Germany may head to the cinemas expecting to confirm the stereotypes of maniacal, war-loving patriotism that Hollywood has helped purpetrate, perhaps it will spark a discussion on this side of the Atlantic about how Germany deals with its own combat-experienced soldiers, no matter how few they may be.