We Could Be Heroes?

Over the long weekend, I have read several interweb articles about the new movie American Sniper.  I  have read a few lamenting the fact that we make people who kill people into heroes, I have read rebuttals of that, and I think where I come down on the whole thing is: "come on people it's a movie."
First of all, I have not seen the movie, but I have seen movies about war before.  In fact, three of my favorite movies of all time (Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket and Platoon) are war movies and I am of the opinion that some of the most powerful human drama and therefore some of the most important stories surround war.  One does not come out of a really good war movie thinking: "Man that seemed like fun."  Having only seen the trailer for American Sniper, I can be pretty certain that this one is no exception.  There are moments in the trailer that feel like a gut punch, particularly where he's sighting in on an Iraqi kid who is maybe 10, who has just been handed a bomb by his mother, and the sniper is flashing mentally through thoughts of his family and his own child, and that's just absolutely gut wrenching, even in a commercial.
I'm pretty certain this isn't a shoot 'em up romp about how heroic war turns out to be.  If you want that though, you know there's always any of The Expendables, movies.
What this comes down to is the actual purpose of storytelling.  Should all stories be neat and clean and safe?  I think not.  I don't know if American Sniper is going to make it on my list of favorite movies, the way life is right now, I won't find out for about eight or nine months, but let me say that telling a good story, a powerful story, even if that story is a little hard-edged, is worth it.
One of the things the Bible has to teach us is that heroes don't have to be heroic in the same sense that mythological characters need to be: Abraham does not have to roll the same way Achilles rolls, David is not Odysseus, and even Sampson has way more weaknesses than Hercules.  Perfect heroes are mythological.  Over the years even Superman had to have some weaknesses (even going so far as getting killed at one point).  Without weaknesses there is no drama, and stories with no drama really only appeal to small children.  Television has perhaps lulled us too much too sleep, most popular shows follow the formula where a crisis (in the case of drama) or a mis-communication (in the case of a comedy) creates some tension which is then resolved by the end of the show.  Most of the time you know that somehow, by the end of the show, everything will all be back to normal.  Only the best and the worst shows leave you hanging.  That's the funny thing about it, if it's good, it leaves you with a pit in your guts that makes you think and challenges you.  If it's bad there's a pit too, but the pit is of a different character, it's un-constructive confusion and bafflement.  Things that don't make sense, but for all the wrong reasons, characters that have not played well their hour upon the stage.
In other words, bad stories tend to be the most like real life.  Good stories place all of that in a context that makes some sense.
That means we tweak a soldier, who serves his country and does his duty, but who is ultimately a tool of violence, into a hero or a villain depending on the story we want to tell.  In absolute reality there are no heroes or villains, there are only flawed human beings doing what they do.  Only the best stories are able to capture this ambiguity and not utterly confuse the audience, and there is a fine balance to be had.  It is much easier to create characters who are blunt instruments and paint from an unmixed palette, that's what most movies do.  Those movies do not offend, or challenge, or move anyone to very much of anything.
That's why, whenever I hear that a movie is creating some stir or offending some group or other I generally want to see it.  Even, and perhaps especially, if I think I may be offended as well.
This is far from fool-proof however.  For instance, Showgirls was super controversial, but it was one of the absolute worst movies of all time.  Maybe being controversial because of the amount of nudity is the exception, because after all, nakedness does not necessarily correspond to good storytelling (in fact there may be an inverse correlation).
I guess it boils down to the question of what is offensive.  Is it the premise?  Because maybe that means it's a button that needs pushed.  Is it the execution?  Because it's never a good idea to give a hammer to a baby.
What I know about Clint Eastwood, the director of American Sniper, is that he's no fool when it comes to story telling (incidents with empty chairs aside).  He has managed to tell some pretty powerful and gritty stories: Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Grand Torino.  I suspect he will help us learn a little bit more about our human predicament, even if it does feel a little like a gut punch.  I'll let you know when it comes out on cable.