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Rating: 4 out of 5
All wars are not viewed equally in history. The Vietnam War is one war that is greatly looked down upon in the history of the United States. The war was cruel and unforgiving to the United States. Many believe that it was an unnecessary war to fight in. People I have spoken to about the Vietnam War have stated that it was a horrible war, and I should be very proud of the people that had to go through it and fight in it. My dad was drafted into the Vietnam War at the age of 18. While out on patrol with his platoon, the platoon was ambushed with only two survivors, my dad, and his friend. With no one else and behind enemy lines, my dad and his friend survived in the jungle for over 50 days until being found and rescued. A story my dad would be happy to tell everyone.
There are countless stories and movies about the fighting and battles that went on during the war. Films like Apocalypse Now, We Were Soldiers, Full Metal Jacket, and many others. Hell, you can even watch Forrest Gump for a Vietnam War scene. The one thing that many Vietnam War movies do is show the impact on the lives of individuals who fought in them. For every great war scene, there are many tales of the damage done to the minds and lives of soldiers who fought in the war.
The Deer Hunter is a Vietnam War movie that shows the happiness that goes on before the war but also the pain and fear that happens when several soldiers come back from the war. It is a movie that everyone should watch for its tone and horrors of being a POW but the pain that many have gone through when a soldier comes back home. Directed and co-written by Michael Cimino. Cimino pulls back the curtain and displays a THREE-HOUR epic journey that is filled with laughs but soon turns into nightmares and pain.
Cimino presents his three-hour film into three easily crafted parts. In the first part, which is also the slowest part of the whole movie going on for about an hour, the movie introduces three friends Michael (De Niro), Nick (Walken), and Steven (Savage). The three buddies are from a steel mill town of Clairton, Pennsylvania. The three friends work together, hang out at the local bar while getting beyond blasted with alcohol, and on the weekends, enjoy deer hunting with a larger group of three other buddies. Growing up in a very small town, I know the feeling. Pretty much, it was nothing but hunting and fishing. The start of the movie shows that Steven and his girlfriend Angela are having a Russian Orthodox wedding. Here we are introduced to a variety of foreshadowing and some drama. First, Michael is in love with Nick’s girl Linda (Streep). Second, Steven and Angela drink from conjoined goblets. Superstition asserts that if they drink without spilling any wine, they will have good luck for life. No one notices that two drops of blood-red wine spill on Angela’s wedding gown. Finally, a soldier walks into the wedding/bar to have a drink. He wants to be by himself, but the three friends ask him a series of questions about the war and what it is like before they head out. The only thing the soldier says is, “F**k It” Not if that isn’t a clue, then I don’t know what it. Also, because I have to bring this up. Stan, one of the other friends, slaps the hell out of his girl because he is beyond drunk. Uncalled for to the fullest. From this, Cimino shows that life is grand and magnificent. When the friends sing, “I Love You Baby!” You know it is a happy time.
Cimino abruptly changes course in the film as no one has time to prepare with the Vietnam scenes and the second act of the film. There is no gradual build-up. No scenes of the friends training for war. No nothing. When you hear soldiers state, “We were dropped into the s**t,” Lord have mercy did Cimino drop us in it. We go from a happy scene to one of complete horror and terror. Cimino quickly introduces us to an unconscious Michael, who seems to have been fighting for a while. He is distraught and all over the place while his comrades lay dead on the battlefield. Cimino shows that we are in a messed-up place from one scene. As Michael watches an enemy soldier in a village, the soldier walks over and finds an underground bunker with women and children. The soldier lights a grenade and drops it in the hole before covering up and walking away. Truly a vile scene, but wait there is more! Somehow a woman and children survive and walk to the enemy soldiers who guns them down in graphic detail.
Michael gets up and quickly kills the soldier with a flamethrower. Of all things, a freakin’ flamethrower. A unit of UH-1 “Huey” helicopters drops off several U.S. infantrymen, with Nick and Steven among them. Mike, Steven, and Nick unexpectedly find each other just before they are captured and held in a prisoner of war camp. Things spiral out of control as Cimino shows the world that the lives the characters once knew will NEVER be the same. They are forced to play games of Russian Roulette with each other for the entertainment of the guards. A game where one will live and one will die, but a winner is always chosen with the blood of the loser sprayed over them. The scenes are cruel, repulsive, and extreme as the deaths become prominent, but the conditions the friends and soldiers are subjected to are vile.
Michael, wanting to make it home, manages to escape his captors with his friends. Cimino’s final act begins with the psychological and pains of war when everyone returns “home.” One sees that the damage has already been done to the friends. Nick stays behind in Vietnam from his stress-induced amnesia and seems to disappear from the world. Mike returns home to a hero’s welcome but tries not to be noticed as he is shy about making it while also starting a new relationship. He seems lost in the world as his two friends are missing. He suddenly learns that Steven is in a VA hospital and alive. We soon learn that Steven has become handicapped after losing his legs and the use of one arm after the escape. He is ashamed to come home as he thinks he is not a man anymore and wants to stay in the safe zone. We also learn that Nick is alive and well in Vietnam while sending money to Steven. Everything finally settles as a death of the three friends truly show the bond that they shared but also the horrors that they will continue to go through.
What should be commended about this movie is Cimino’s direction and storytelling. Even with a three-hour run time, Cimino showed three distinct tones in the film: happiness, fear, and sorrow. Cimino brilliantly showed this through three parts while also throwing in subtle foreshadowing in the beginning.
I have seen a bunch of war movies, and I even knew about the Russian Roulette scene, but nothing can still prepare you for it. You just know someone is going to die, and someone will have to live with that for the rest of their life. Cimino keeps the theme of Russian Roulette constant throughout the film. He uses it as a way for several of the men to express their pain and fear. For example, when Michael is out hunting with his friends after being back, and Stan carelessly waves around a gun. He quickly points the gun at Stan and pulls the trigger, letting him know that it’s not safe.
Another instance is when Nick is wandering around the streets of Saigon. He falls upon a Russian Roulette game. He jumps in and pulls the trigger three times at himself, and the two people playing before walking off. It is a brilliant and effective way to show that life shouldn’t be taken for granted.
The performances in this film are phenomenal in their own way. De Niro does his part but sometimes seems to go a little overboard with his acting. De Niro definitely showed the raw emotion, fear, and anger in his character. During the whole POW scene, De Niro was at his absolute best. Before and after that, he seemed to be a little overboard or quiet. He didn’t carry the whole movie but held his own. Walken, on the other hand, was great! He won the Academy Award for his role as Nick. Even though he didn’t say too much in the whole film, his body language told the entire story. A story of a man affected by the horrors of war. The only option for him was to stay in the place that he had become accustomed to. Finally, there is the beautiful and amazing Meryl Streep. Streep was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her very first nomination of many to follow. She was good as Linda. She wasn’t overbearing, but she came into her own during the third act of this film. As she played a woman who becomes conflicted over a new love and an old love.
The Deer Hunter is a great movie all around. It is not truly an anti-movie but a film that shows the traumas of war. A movie that shows that this was a very messed up war to be in. I will say this about the ending of the film. It ends with the cast singing “God Bless America.” When the casts sing it, it makes you feel sorry for them but also has the meaning that there is hope for America and the people that fight for our very freedom. Overall this film shows the heart and soul of what the war was really like. One where the horrors still live in the minds of the soldiers that fought in it today.
