Orbital Eunuchs Sniper

American Sniper, directed by Clint Eastwood, reflects US mores as much as Leviathan reflects the current Russian Zeitgeist. But, where Leviathan examines Putin's Russia with the unflinching eye of a surgeon, American Sniper merely trumpets supposed national values with no consideration of their application around the world.

However, he was killed by a sniper four days later and never knew he had won the highest British military honour.

Lt Col Vann was killed by a German sniper on 4 October 1918 just over a month before the war ended.

In short, American Sniper fails where Leviathan succeeds. George Orwell neatly summarized why All propaganda is a lie even when it's telling the truth.

... heroically pushing her out of the way of an oncoming imaginary sniper bullet, for which I have yet to be thanked, I was trying as hard as I could she didn't even see it coming I was trying as hard as I could to be on my best behavior.

Neither Leviathan, the Russian film nominated for the best Foreign Language Film, nor American Sniper, nominated for Best Picture, won. Yet both, in a way, are the most representative films of the year, as each captures the essence of why Russia and the United States now seem doomed to wage a new Cold War.