Ok, so this is the first real contender on my Oscar docket with six nominations. It was extremely difficult for me to watch and I'm glad I got it out of the way early. Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) starts out as a cowboy, but finds himself at loose ends with no real purpose in his life. That changes when he sees the aftermath of the hotel bombing in Saudi Arabia, and he decides to join the Navy SEALs. During SEAL training, he meets his wife, Taya (Sienna Miller). After 9/11, Chris's team is activated and sent into Iraq. There, his innate ability as a marksman is honed until he is dubbed "The Legend" by his teammates. However, the constant pressure and trials of war begin stripping away everything that makes him able to connect with people outside of a rifle scope.
We all have our scars. Some are on the outside and some we bury deeply. It takes a great deal of effort to address the darker parts of our nature, the pieces that allow us to do and see terrible things. Things we wouldn't wish on anyone. And even more effort to allow other people to see that side of us. It's so rare that people understand what it means to have faced real combat if they haven't done it themselves. And, on the one hand, that's good. You don't want them to have the nightmares that you have, the fear and the sudden rage from that burst of adrenaline triggered by a noise. A noise that means nothing because you're not over "there" anymore. But your body can't let it go. Because not that long ago, that noise meant death for you or your people. You have trained it into a survival instinct but you don't need it anymore and that's confusing. And irritating, because now you look like a total lunatic when you say that you don't want to go out and watch the fireworks on the 4th of July because you don't know what will happen and you don't want to be responsible for hurting someone. You can see the pity and the scorn in their faces because they don't understand why you just can't "get over it" because "you're safe now" like you'll ever feel safe again. It makes you want to beat the shit out of them and have them live with the threat every day so they know. So they don't take their lives for granted. Because every day is a gift. A gift you sometimes feel you don't deserve because you know somebody paid for it in blood and flesh and shattered dreams. It feels weak to say that you need help, like you're devaluing that sacrifice, that it would be better if you just kept it to yourself.
It's not a weakness. People still need you. They count on you every day. They need you to be here, to be connected, to feel. Because you're important. You have value. And no amount of scars can take that away.
Ahem. Well, as for the movie itself, I think it might have a chance in the Sound Mixing and Editing categories. I did not enjoy the film editing. I thought there were several scenes that felt shoehorned in and it was not nearly as crisp as it could have been. I'm a little surprised Bradley Cooper got in the Best Actor field and I don't think he's a frontrunner, but he has been nominated like three years in a row. As far as Best Picture, it will take a lot to unseat Boyhood as the one to beat. I haven't seen it yet but it has a lot of momentum.
No comments:
Post a Comment