The film American Sniper is simply an adaptation of a similar book by Chris Kyle, Scott McEwen, and Jim DeFelice. The film tries to visualize the details in the book more extensively for the audience. As such, the scenes in the book and those in the movie share several similarities and differences, as will be exemplified in this essay.
Some of the similarities I found between the novel and the film adaptation are as follows: Firstly, in both sources, Chris Kyle is described as a staunch Christian, judging from his strong Christian values and those of his family. In addition to his religious standing, his love for weapons is also evidenced in the movie and book, respectively. His father teaches him the ropes of handling them; his interest in learning eventually causes him to excel in his military career. Secondly, the events leading up to Kyle and Taya’s relationship are the same in both the book and the movie. After starting his training as a SEAL, Kyle stumbles upon his future wife in a bar. They engage in a conversation while having drinks, and Taya ends up vomiting from excessive alcohol consumption (Kyle, McEwen, and DeFelice 19). Further, Taya ignores Kyle’s calls for a while before warming up to him, and soon after, they get into a relationship and eventually get married. Some parts of their married life are the same in the book and the movie. For instance, Taya and Kyle communicate after Kyle’s deployment. Her experiences during such times are as painful in the film as they are in the book. One such instance is when she is on a call with her husband, and suddenly a gunfire fight breaks out between the military and their opponents. Kyle drops the phone, and Taya is left listening in, unsure of her husband’s safety (Eastwood 1).
Thirdly, Kyle’s mastery as a sniper has been widely expressed in the movie as in the book. The film and book both explain how Kyle shot an Iraqi woman carrying a grenade, signifying his first kill. Additionally, his relationship with his fellow sailors is the same in the movie and the book. His friendship with Biggles is especially emphasized in both sources. Further, his patriotic values are a force to reckon with. Despite having a family that needs him back home, he gives his life to his career fully and aims to safeguard his country and its people in whatever way he can. At the end of both stories, however, he is forced to return home to be with his family even though he remains longing for the warzone (Kyle, McEwen, and DeFelice 387).
Besides the similarities, a series of differences were evidenced. To start with, Chris Kyle’s reasons for joining the military differ in the two sources. In his autobiography, Kyle mentions that he returned to the SEAL training after receiving a call regarding the same. On the other hand, the film implies that his transition to a SEAL was a result of a terrorist attack on the US embassy. A news report of an attack on the Kenyan US embassy leads him to join the SEAL team. In addition, unlike in the movie, Kyle and Taya’s wedding faced no interruptions whatsoever due to rumors of an impending war. On the contrary, the two had decided to get married because Kyle was about to be deployed (Kyle, McEwen, and DeFelice 69). Secondly, as per the movie, Biggle’s death leads Kyle to embark on a revenge mission to kill Mustafa, the Iraqi sniper who is also his rival. The book contradicts this by explaining that Kyle had nothing to do with Mustafa’s death. In his words, he said, “I never saw him, but other snipers later killed an Iraqi sniper we think was him” (Kyle, McEwen, and DeFelice 233). Thirdly, the film includes a scene where Kyle and Taya are on the phone, and soon after a gunfight breaks out. This is after she has revealed the gender of their unborn baby to her husband. While the phone call is an adaptation from reality, the gender revelation was not a part of it, as per Kyle’s memoir.
Further, at the beginning of the movie, we see an Iraqi woman with her son. She hands her son the grenade, and shortly after, Kyle shoots him, she runs to secure it and gets shot as well. Kyle’s reaction to this – his first kill – portrays that he feels guilty for killing the boy (Eastwood 1). However, in the book, only the woman is shot, which means that the scene with the boy is only in the film. Kyle further justifies his actions by mentioning that as a patriot and a SEAL, it was his duty to shoot her. He proceeds to call her evil, and this disqualifies the remorseful reaction portrayed in the movie. Finally, Biggles is displayed in a different light in the film, contrary to the book’s description of events. According to the film, Biggles dies while in the hospital after being injured by Mustafa at war, but not before proposing to his girlfriend (Eastwood 1). In reality, after being injured, the Navy discharges him from the military. He goes to college, begins a career, and even marries his girlfriend. His death is caused by a facial reconstruction surgery, leaving his widowed wife pregnant with their first baby.
In conclusion, the movie and the book American Sniper have numerous similarities and differences. The book is more inclined to reality, while the film includes more fictional details and leaves out others due to the limited screenplay time. The memoirs are very detailed and provide first-hand information about the sailors’ experiences both at home and at war. However, despite the differences, the two sources are an interesting source of information about the war.
References
American Sniper. Dir. Clint Eastwood. Hall, Jason. 2014.
Kyle, Chris, Scott McEwen, and Jim DeFelice. American Sniper. NewYork: William Morrow, 2012.
