“American Sniper” is Clint Eastwood’s new film based on the 2012 biography of Chris Kyle, a US Navy Seal from Texas. Kyle, who served four tours in the Iraq War, has several combat medals from the Navy & Marine Corps. He claimed with pride to have taken out more than 255 people in long-range kill shots & described killing as fun & something he loved to do. “I hate the damn savages,” he wrote. “I couldn’t give a flying fuck about the Iraqis.” He also bragged about murdering looters during Hurricane Katrina. He & another guy were murdered on a gun range by a Marine Corps veteran with PTSD in 2013.

Reviewers tell us “American Sniper” is a morally ambiguous, emotionally complex film. Morally ambiguous, my ass! You don’t have Bradley Cooper, Hollywood’s hunk du jour, play Kyle unless you’re trying to whip up sympathy with him–& quite frankly with his racism & Islamophobia.

Eastwood is a right-winger & in no way distinguishes himself from the spate of films & TV series glorifying US assassins & spies & misrepresenting US military policy. You can look for nuance in this damn thing but that doesn’t raise it above the level of propaganda. How many shades of psycho are there?