Took my father to see American Sniper yesterday, it was nice to watch a good well-acted movie without any Hollywood leftist BS and in a quiet theater from start to finish. My father choked up at several points, the biggest punch in the gut for me was the stamping of the tridents on caskets.
Movie pretty much followed the book, some things being slightly different. The opening scene in real life did not have the kid. The long distance shot was on a regular RPG-toting scumbag, and while he was called The Legend by his teammates, the jihadis called him “The Devil of Ramadi”, I don’t recall the latter in the movie, maybe it was there and I missed it, but he did have bounties on his head, and the 160 kills is a low number…160 confirmed (witnessed) is the official number, the real number being just under 300. He did like The Punisher symbol (skull) and had it on it ball cap, tattooed a crusader cross on his arm.
Other things are composites, a typical device to portray many things that are real into a shorter time-frame. Mustafa the jihadi sniper did exist, but somebody else (not sure) got him, because the deaths by enemy sniper ended. The Butcher character did not exist in real life, though the many atrocities committed by the savages did occur, and retribution on civilians cooperating with the American’s was severe.
Anyway, there is nothing in the book that mischaracterizes the man or the story one bit. Everyone should see it and get a small glimpse into what the warrior elite life is like.
Chris, and certainly Taya and the kids, did not deserve to be separated from each other by a disturbed young man, but he was trying to help other Vets the only way he knew how and in the process was helping himself, and he did help a lot of people, it just sucks he had to go that way.
But, just think of how many lives he saved here and there?!