Baghdad’s only cinema has been forced to cancel screenings of controversial war biopic American Sniper after filmgoers and government officials complained that the film “insults” Iraqis, reports the Washington Post.

Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-nominated drama, which stars Bradley Cooper as real-life US navy seal gunman Chris Kyle, has already proven hugely divisive in North America. The film has taken in $250m in the US and Canada alone in just three weeks after successfully marketing itself to nationalistic Americans. But it has also been criticised by commentators for celebrating a “hate-filled” gunman known for his 160 confirmed kills over four tours in Iraq, the highest total in US military history.

While some younger filmgoers in Iraq see the film as simply a movie about historical events, most have been left upset and angry by Eastwood’s portrayal of their country and its people, reports the Post.

“It glorifies Americans and makes Iraqis out to be nothing but terrorists,” said teacher Ahmed Kamal, 27, who said he downloaded the film for free because he didn’t want to pay to see a movie in which Iraqis are repeatedly referred to as “savages”.

“I wasn’t prepared to spend money to see it,” said Kamal. “It portrays Americans as strong and noble, and Iraqis as ignorant and violent.”

The six-screen multiplex in the upmarket Mansour mall witnessed scenes of chaos in one screening as three men in the front row jumped up from their seats and began swearing at the screen following a scene in which a child picks up a rocket launcher and prepares to shoot at an unseen target. “They were shouting, ‘It’s all a lie,’ and ‘You are demeaning our culture,’” said observer Mohammed Laith, 27.

Other scenes that caused anger included the misidentification of Baghdad district Sadr City as a base for al-Qaida, which is a Sunni organisation. In fact, the area saw Shia militias battling US troops.

Sarmad Moazzem, 32, described his distress at Eastwood’s failure to note that some Iraqis worked alongside the Americans against the insurgents. The security adviser, who now has a job at the cinema which pulled the film, worked for five years with the US army as an official at the Iraqi interior ministry logistics division.

“The film makes out that all Iraqis are terrorists — men, women and children,” he said, “whereas, actually, there are some people who loved the Americans and wanted them to stay to help rebuild our country. The movie didn’t show any of them.”

The manager of the cinema, Fares Hilal, told the Post he eventually received a call from a senior government official at Iraq’s ministry of culture who warned he could face fines if he continued to show the film.

“He told me the film insults Iraqis,” said Hilal, who reluctantly complied. “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.”