American Sniper an 'insult' according to Baghdad cinema

Los Angeles - American Sniper has been pulled from a Baghdad cinema.

The film - which stars Bradley Cooper as US Navy SEAL Chris Kyle - has been taken off from the listings at the only cinema in Iraq's capital city after the government and viewers said the film "insults" Iraqis.

The cinema's manager, Fares Hilal, was warned by a senior official at the Ministry of Culture that there would be fines and chance of closure if he continued to screen the film.

Check out the trailer for American Sniper:


He told The Washington Post newspaper: "He told me the film insults Iraqis.

"If we show it, we will be criticised. But if we don't, we lose money. A lot of people wanted to see this film."

Meanwhile, Bradley previously admitted that he was "surprised" by the controversy surrounding the Clint Eastwood-directed film.


(Behind the scenes of American Sniper. Numetro)

He said: "You never know when you make a movie if anybody's going to see it, so to have the audacity to think that it would cause any sort of effect at all would be pretty presumptuous.

"Any discussion that sheds light on the plight of the soldiers and the men and women in the armed services, for that discussion to occur is fantastic."