Sitting in America, we never get to know the other side in any kind of believable way. We have so many movies about Iraq, Afghanistan, and this and that, but there is never a character from that side.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
With Vietnam, the Iraq War, so many American films about war are almost always from the American point of view. You almost never have a Middle Eastern character by name with a story.
People on both sides of any conflict believe they are right, whether it's on a TV show or in the real world.
We are battling fanatics who kidnap and behead civilians and shoot fleeing children in the back. There can be no dialogue with such people, and the American people understand this.
'American Sniper' is a movie. War is a grim reality and with us still.
People have to identify with their own stories, with their own lives, so a movie belongs to a country and to a culture. Sometimes we can share, but it's very rare.
We've had characters like Trump in American politics forever, characters who trade on xenophobia.
As an actress, I think there is always a political consciousness there.
If people really saw what was happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, then they might be marching in the streets to end wars. But you know, I think that no one ever sees because we're not allowed to see, and we're not allowed to publish what we do see. So it's quite difficult.
There's enough of a willingness in the West to do sympathetic movies about Arab roles.
Generally, studios are adverse to making films about war in the Middle East. They'd much rather make a film with a superhero or an alien or a robot.