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AMERICAN SNIPER

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(Heartbreaking Iraq war story)

Based on the story of U.S. Seal sniper Chris Kyle, “American Sniper” will haunt you with its do or die story of a man making life or death decisions and finding a way to cope (or not cope) with them. Bradley Cooper plays Kyle with such intensity and bravery in battle that he becomes a true American hero.

Director Clint Eastwood allows us to get inside the head of Kyle, share his struggles, his pain and his denials as he tries to adjust to life back home in between his four tours of duty.

We see and feel the moral struggles that go on with men who have to make on-the-spot decisions on who lives and dies...and that often involves women and children.

 The movie opens with Kyle on the roof of a building with his rifle pointed at a woman and a young boy. Eastwood leaves us hanging until the outcome is revealed later in the movie.

Kyle follows the theory that there are three kinds of people in the world: sheep, wolves and sheep dogs. He has proclaimed himself a sheep dog whose sole mission is to protect the sheep from the wolves. How a man can live with that and feel free to face his God is the moral dilemma behind this tense, heartbreaking movie.

Kyle’s short respites between tours get more difficult as he wrestles between being with his wife and children and his buddies back in Iraq. He loves his wife (Sienna Miller), but feels a strong duty to return to his “job” to protect her and his country.

One thousand days and 150 kills later, Kyle returns to face a difficult adjustment and an ending that leaves the audience in reflective silence.

Rated R, with profanity and violence.

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