The Other State of the Union: American Sniper

Don't ask. You know the answer.

I will not watch Obama's State of the Union (SOTU) message to Congress.

For a very long time I have found watching our pretend President unbearable: the upturned nose; the arrogant stance and poking of the finger in the air; the empty words and unkept promises; the refusal to deal with real issues and the introduction of nonsensical ones; his complete lack of knowledge of American history; and, of course, the lies and the lies and--did I mention the lies?--the lies. Can't do it. Won't do it. I don't want to hear about "free" community college; embracing the "dreams" of undocumented, i.e., illegal, aliens; and the need for the "rich" to pay more to address social and economic inequality, etc. Meanwhile, of course, our country, our allies, and our very civilization are under increasing attack from the purveyors of an ancient totalitarian ideology which we must respect, welcome into our homes, and are not allowed to name--Psst! Just among us, it's Islam.

I watched an alternative SOTU, and I urge all to do the same. I watched Clint Eastwood's American Sniper. It is, without doubt, one of the greatest war films I have ever seen. It ranks very high--perhaps  highest--with other favorites of mine, such as (in no particular order) Zulu, Glory, Paths of Glory, The Longest Day, Beneath Hill 60, Saving Private Ryan, Hamburger Hill, Lawrence of Arabia, Pork Chop Hill, and Letters from Iwo Jima. 

Sniper, however, is more than a war movie. Sure, of course, it has some great and tension-filled action scenes, but it is a film much more about respecting a code of honor, duty, sacrifice, and, above all, putting others before self--and the price that following that code exacts. The film could just as easily have been called British Sniper, Canadian Sniper,  or Australian Sniper. It is not a "Rah, Rah, USA!" film. It is about men who respond to the call of duty; who get angry when they see their country attacked; and who put their lives on the line. In this case, the movie is about US Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, who became the deadliest sniper in US military history. Throughout the movie it is clear--despite some of the leftist nonsense now being said about the film--that Chris Kyle's motivation in becoming a sniper is his realization that his shooting skills could help save the lives of his fellow combatants. He could save the lives of Marines. Neither the film nor the book gave me the impression that Kyle wanted to kill; he wanted to prevent Marines for whom he had "overwatch" from being killed. This could have been the story of thousands of others, American, British, Canadian, Australian, Israeli, whatever, who saw their duty and did it. It is a great film. Watch it.

Now to the alternate SOTU mentioned above. It was tough to get tickets to the film, and we barely got into a matinee showing--which also sold out. At the end of the film, the audience--white, black, Asian, Hispanic, young and old--broke into applause. And BTW, this was in California. Not a dry eye in sight as the credits rolled over images of Chris Kyle's funeral.

Makes you wonder if there is a disconnect between the elites and the people. Maybe, huh? All I know is that the film's success at the box office is driving the progressive elites mad! Go see the movie: provoke a progressive!