War can be a gruesome time. It is a time where many men and women go and don’t return. However for those lucky enough to return, the majority never come back the same as they were before. The movie American Sniper directed by Clint Eastwood, depicts the life of the Seal team 6 sniper Chris Kyle. Chris was a brave man who holds the record for most confirmed kills by any American soldier ever. However, Chris had some difficult times coming home. Throughout the movie, the director uses the element of symbolism, foreshadowing, and cut scenes to show how soldiers’ lives change throughout their time in battle

Throughout the movie, American Sniper, the director uses symbolism in many different places. At the beginning of the movie, Chris is shown as a kid sitting in church and the camera focuses on him taking a bible from pew. Later, on his fourth tour in Iraq, Chris believes he is going to die so he puts the sniper down and calls up his wife on this broken phone to tell her he loves her. As he is trying to escape the battle he thought he was going to die in and heads  into the sandstorm, he leaves behind the bible, his sniper and the broken phone he was using to talk to his wife.  These three things are major symbols in the movie. For starters, The bible represents his innocence. Him leaving that behind and finally coming home symbolizes that his innocence is gone. The next symbol is his Sniper. This symbolizes his old self during war. The sniper represents Chris’s old self because he is no longer a soldier, He is a civilian. Chris did his job and completed the mission by taking out the deadly Iraqi Sniper, however now he is a family man and the soldier life he used to live is left behind in Iraq, the same place The final symbol is the broken phone. The phone symbolizes his connection to his wife. The phone was broken, and thanks to the war, so was his connection to his wife. Throughout the war, Chris progressively changed from this innocent man who loved his wife and couldn’t hurt a soul to a man who is all about war and not about family and would pull the trigger on a innocent kid who has a chance to harm Americans. 

The Author also uses cut scenes to portray the progression of Chris’s change. For example, after each tour in Iraq, the director will cut back to Chris at home. Each time they cut back to Chris at home, his PTSD gets progressively worse. For example, when he comes home after the first tour, everything seems ok except Chris seems to be restless and out of it. This is just the beginning of the PTSD. Next, after his second tour, the PTSD begins to settle in a little bit when he is sitting down watching a blank tv and hearing bullets screaming by him even though nothing is really happening. Then, after his third tour, he runs into a veteran who lost his leg. At this moment, the camera becomes still on Chris’s face and he looks distraught as if he is the reason the guy lost his leg. Chris saved the man’s life, and Chris believes that had he done something earlier, that man would still have his leg.  Although that’s bad, it gets worse. After the fourth tour, Chris sees a dog barking at kids so he rips his belt off and pins the dog down and right before he hits it his wife stops him. This vivid message wouldn’t be portrayed this well if the director didn’t use cut scenes throughout the movie, and this sequence of Chris’s PTSD progression further proves how soldiers’ lives change throughout battle. 

Finally, The author uses Foreshadowing to further his message that soldiers’ lives change through war. At the beginning of the movie,  10 year old Chris and his brother are sitting at the dinner table and his brother has a black eye. After, his father rips his belt off and says that his kids better be sheep dog. This is foreshadowing the scene mentioned before when Chris rips his belt off to beat the dog. First off, this shows us that Chris has broken the barrier and become violent even at home now. Next, this shows us that Chris is no longer a sheep dog, Chris is a wolf. The affects of his PTSD made 

In conclusion, there are many different elements the author uses that shows how soldiers change from war. The cut scenes not only show us how Chris changed from his PTSD, but it allows us to see the progression of it. The Symbolism used in this movie allows us to see the details of Chris’s life and what he left behind at war. No matter how mentally and physically tough a soldier is, the anxiety and sheer savagery of war will get to them. The images they see will play in their head over and over and cause PTSD all because of how graphic and gut wrenching war can be. Soldiers are heroes and are symbols of what America is, a tough, hard working never say die country that will put you on your butt if you try to mess with it.