Seeing AMERICAN SNIPER come to life

I'd heard of Chris Kyle before, watched a bunch of interviews with him, and was curious about his book. Later on I heard there was a movie in the works, and that motivated me even more to read it; I read the copy my uncle lent me, listened to a YouTube audiobook a few months later, and then read the memorial edition I got for Christmas.
(I wanted to make sure I remembered as much as possible).

Chief Chris Kyle - Navy SEAL - Freedom Experience at Fellowship Church

American Sniper trailer 2

January 17th 2015, I've finally gotten to see his story on the big screen (I think it's the only R-rated movie I've seen in the theaters, now that I think of it). And you wanna know the crazy thing? Soon as the parking lot came into view, it was packed! Cars everywhere, really close to full.
But not only that, the lobby was even more packed! It was hard to find space to move or figure out where the line even started. There was a whole separate line, long and thick, just to get into the BIG-D theater where Sniper was playing. Mom, dad and I waited for several minutes to get to the front of the line to one of the cashiers. I looked around and figured a ton of these people were also gonna see Annie or Paddington. Obviously, cause some of them were kids! 'Might not be as full as we think.' I thought.

God was I wrong. The BIG-D theater was... well let's just say I have never seen such a crowded auditorium in my entire twenty years! It was hard to find seats. Literally, we were searching around until finding three seats next to each other; in the second to highest row.
It got hot quickly. I swear it felt like summer up there, but thankfully we got a good view of the screen. Still I had never expected to see that many people crowding into that huge theater to watch the film.

Some people, including me, gave a light applause for the scene with Chris's famous 2100-yard shot.
Sniper vs Sniper (2100-yard shot scene)
Bradley Cooper's performance was great, it was like looking at Chris.

When the movie itself was over, then came a subtitle saying Chris was shot by a marine he was trying to help. It switched to real footage from 2013 of veterans/supporters lining Texas streets, photos of the funeral, and Chris's casket covered in other SEAL's tridents. When that image faded to the credits (before that, even), the audience was silent. So much that if someone waited by the door they would have thought it was empty. I had never heard such a silence with this many people around before. It was truly surprising, but also touching, and much bigger than a movie.


During the few hours spent at the theater, I had looked around and noticed a bunch of veterans coming and going. I saw two guys with army camo ball caps, one man in a navy hoody, I saw another guy with a black t-shirt labeled "OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM VETERAN" and there was this other hoody that amused me; "AND GOD SAID LET THERE BE MARINES AND THE DEVIL RAN SCARED"

I hope American Sniper wins all those Oscars it's been nominated for. Might have to wait a couple weeks to see it again so it won't be so crowded in there next time.