Rogen Compares 'Sniper' to 'Inglorious Basterds'

Seth Rogen continues to straddle the line between Hollywood and the political sphere. On Monday, Seth Rogen tweeted about Clint Eastwood's film American Sniper, saying it viewed like the fake Nazi propaganda film that plays at the end of Inglorious Basterds, called Nation's Pride. The A.V. Club pointed out that Rogen wasn't the only one to make that connection; their critic Ben Kenigsberg had the same reaction in his round-up of 2014 films. Rogen's tweet comes not long after Michael Moore criticized the movie for making heroes out of snipers.

How similar, though, are Rogen and Moore's criticisms? Is one "more offensive" than the other? And what makes American Sniper so insular that it should be immune to criticism? Rogen followed up his original tweet by saying that "I just said something 'kinda reminded' me of something else. I actually liked American Sniper. It just reminded me of the Tarantino scene." Did he need to qualify the statement so people wouldn't be offended?

I haven't seen American Sniper, and though it's crushing at the box office, that shouldn't protect it from criticism and skepticism. Selma was scrutinized for what was called "historical inaccuracies" in regards to the characterization of Lyndon B. Johnson in the film, and yet American Sniper seems somehow more 'sacred' because it's about the US Military. It seems people are quick to forget that criticizing the military as an insitution and honoring individual soldiers are not mutually exclusive.

And Rogen's Twitter shouldn't be policed. Anyone who criticizes American Sniper is not automatically un-patriotic; isn't freedom of speech what is so valued in the US? Isn't that same freedom and the oppression of it in North Korea what caused such an international panic over Rogen and James Franco's The Interview? And if some viewers are having the same reaction as Twitter user @TheRaganBrock, who said "Ngl teared up at the end of American Sniper. Great fucking movie and now I really want to kill some fucking ragheads," then it's more important than ever to view American Sniper with a critical eye.