"He was a hero doing and saying the things a hero should, and Eastwood is too tongue-tied to prevent this unexamined jingoism from echoing through the multiplex." Amy Nicholson. Its a well-made but pointless, jingoistic Hollywood's war biopic on the Navy SEAL Chris Kyle from Texas, it's directed by Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven, Gran Torino). Its how self-righteous aggressive Americans see themselves in their delusions of grandeur. They are super-strong survivors and the deadliest ones in the food chain, just like their growling battle tanks. They are the biggest bullies in town. The film itself follows a singular story line. There are no mindlessly gory but this real-life story is also intentionally crafted so that the protagonist appears highly glorified. This film looks real but its not rooted in the real world. The Iraqis are shown like "savage" animals filled with hate for the Americans, attacking like wild beasts. Despite the admirable acting in the film, for me, it rings hollow inside. The film is uninterested in the basic question, which is, what was the moral cost of killing people? It only tells us that vengeance killing is morally justified. In the end he was another soldier who couldn't leave the war behind and this film is as moral black-and-white. It like Nazis German officers who justified their actions by saying that they were only doing their job on the battlefield. Doesn't sound very honourable. "In many ways there are traces of Eastwood’s experience and knowledge of westerns that can be seen in the way Sniper stages scenes of gunplay – or even the thrilling anticipation of gunplay. The Middle Eastern terrain recalls badlands and crowded towns from old westerns, with a lot of similar tropes played for great effect (big showdowns and shootouts in a town square, rooftop ambushes, etc.). As evidenced by the trailers and TV commercials, many of American Sniper‘s big action sequences are wrought with tension and suspense, and are constructed with meticulous detail to both combat tactics and visual storytelling. In short: the action sequences in the film are well done and exciting and make American Sniper worthy of the price of admission for action fans. " Kofi Outlaw. Yes, training is grueling, but it is not sadistic. Yes battle is jarring and horrific, but also dusty and boring. Yes some soldiers think the effort is pointless, but others believe the effort is profoundly important. http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/featured/2015/01/11/bradley-cooper-american-sniper-chris-kyle-interview/21298229/ "For a combat veteran, an invitation to go shooting with Kyle—perhaps the world’s best sharpshooter—was like being asked to play golf with Tiger Woods. He was the deadliest sniper in U.S. history. During four tours in Iraq he scored more than 150 confirmed kills, with another 100 probable. He had planned the target-practice outing as a way to help Routh as he had helped other troubled soldiers. Routh’s mother Jodi reached out to Kyle for help. But it ended, according to the sheriff, with Kyle and Littlefield both shot dead by Routh. Precisely what happened next remains unknown. Police said that Routh was driving the truck of victim and ex-Navy SEAL Chris Kyle at the time of arrest. Authorities found Routh walking nearby with no shirt and no shoes, and smelling of alcohol. None of those address the central mystery. Kyle was a killer who became a healer. How could he so suddenly be transformed again, into a victim? A survey of 1,388 veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq found that poverty led to more reports of aggression than PTSD. Substance abuse and a criminal record increase the chances of trouble." “In his memoir, Kyle reportedly described killing as “fun”, something he “loved”; he was unwavering in his belief that everyone he shot was a “bad guy”. “I hate the damn savages,” he wrote. “I couldn't give a flying fuck about the Iraqis.” He bragged about murdering looters during Hurricane Katrina, though that was never substantiated. He loved guns and wanted to make sure people could handle them safely. He was the first to tell you: Guns don't kill.”
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Through the movies of Raj Kapoor, Bimal Roy and others, Hindi film lovers of a certain vintage are familiar with romantic ideas like love for humanity and rejection of religious and nationalistic barriers. But with a cross-country, inter-religious love story in their screenplay, Hirani and Joshi are closer to ideals of rationalism and scientific temper. Sanjukta Sharma The seat of a fat man’s pyjamas is caught in the crack of his buttocks, a phenomenon that used to be called ‘butterfly’ by the children of Madras. An alien, who is already perplexed by the complexities of human clothing, pulls out the smudge. But then he feels he has probably interfered with the fat man’s sense of fashion, and tucks the garment back into the crack. This moment in PK also describes the aftermath of the reformatory film, which tries to eliminate the distortion of religion in the human mind but then allows all believers to go back home from the theatre with their butterflies intact. This is a UTV Disney-backed film but it is produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and is directed by Rajkumar Hirani. Its Rajkumar Hirani's latest film after getting three back-to-back hits (3 Idiots and the Munnabhai series). His writing partner is Abhijat Joshi. His films touches the Hindi heartland and the ending is usually on a high note of hope without being a wannabe Hollywood-looking zinger masalathon (no wickedly charming man beating up bad guys without breaking a sweat in order to woo a girl).
The film is themed around organized religion and fraud god-men who thrive on human fears and desperations. It also highlights issues such as idol worship and religious taboos. This kind of films are rarely made in our contemporary mainstream Hindi film industry. Its also timely. PK addresses a real issue and its intended to rationalizes this to the audience i.e. the misuse of god's name by organised religion. PK means 'drunkard' in Hindi. The protagonist is a wide-eyed stranded alien with child-like attributes. He is trapped on Earth and cannot go back to his home planet till he finds his ship's beacon which was stolen the minute he arrived (naken like a newborn) in North Western India. Hence his searches for God (the earthlings believe is the one who can help him). But what got me thinking is why did the writers choose to name the female lead Jagat Janani or Jaggu and why does she have a tomboy look? The last leg is just too stretched with hyperbolic sermoning and gets highly melodramatic. Songs was just average, like it was an after thought. Stunts or editing is not its strongest points. Mobs ransacked cinema theatres screening PK and religious leaders have demanded a ban. A lawyer in Kanpur moved court against the star saying that the poster was “obscene.” Aamir Khan defended nudity on PK poster saying that it’s not for publicity. He called it “key art”, and that it depicted the story of the film. The poster (below) features Aamir posing nude with a strategically placed boombox hiding his modesty. The poster was later approved by a government panel. The Supreme Court dismissed a petition seeking a ban on the film for hurting religious sentiments and promoting nudity. “If you dont like it, dont watch it. Indian youth are smart enough to know that PK is fiction,” said Chief Justice R. M. Lodha. The more newspapers, TV channels and social media buzzed about angry people vandalising theatres, the more curious everyone else became and they all trooped into the theatres to find out what the deal was really about. "Once a film has come through the Censor Board, no one has the right to demand that it be pulled from theatres because it has offended them. Everyone is sensitive to something, and if you begin to factor it all in, you’ll never make a movie." |
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