THE DEER HUNTER
dir: Michael Cimino
"You wanna play games? All right, I'll play your fucking games." - Michael
Brief Synopsis
Three out of a larger group of friends depart for Vietnam, while prisoners of war, they are victims of brutal games of Russian Roulette which changes their personalities forever.
Why It's Here
"The Deer Hunter" is in many ways the godfather of Vietnam war films, even if it isn't often recognized as such. The film is significant for many reasons, first of all it earned Christopher Walken his first and only Academy Award as well as Meryl Streep's first of fifteen (as of this writing) Oscar nominations. It introduced and used terrific actors such as De Niro, Walken, and Streep as not one-time wonders but as actors with intense range and lasting power.
Second, "The Deer Hunter" was the first of a long list of Vietnam War films to be shown to American audiences following the war. Like all truly brilliant films, "The Deer Hunter" challenged it's audience and was received with strong praise from some and strong disgust from others. A public who had just witnessed the horrors of the Vietnam War were now expected to watch a film about it as entertainment? The thing that many people did not understand was that "The Deer Hunter" is not entertainment, it is art. Every inaccuracy in the film's depiction of the war is clear and deliberate. This is as much a film about war as it is a film about hell itself. Following this film was "Apocalypse Now" which treaded into similar themes of dehumanization and madness. A second wave of anti-war Vietnam films would later be produced almost a full decade later, most notably with "Platoon" and "Full Metal Jacket", but these films all owe a great debt to "The Deer Hunter" which absorbed the shock factor from audiences who would eventually come to accept the subject as a popular topic for film. Like later films that deal with American tragedy such as "United 93", some critics would attack the filmmakers for jumping on a touchy subject to squeeze out a film that is ripe with sympathy from the audience still affected by the aftermath of the event; others would appreciate the mature tribute that films like "Deer Hunter" and "United 93" portrayed to those who suffered and died in both Vietnam and 9/11. It is fortunate that "The Deer Hunter" is as elegant as it is, otherwise it may not have been able to pull off the almost instantaneous post-Vietnam release.
The first major objection to the film came in the controversial Russian Roulette scenes. The film depicts a group of friends who are drafted and sent to fight in Vietnam. Three of the group are captured in P.O.W. camp and forced to play vicious games of Russian Roulette for the gambling and enjoyment of their Vietcong captors. The Vietcong as displayed as vicious, heartless monsters who hoot and holler at the sight of one prisoner blowing his brains out. The frustration from the audience erupted over the fact that there is no evidence that any P.O.W. camp forced it's prisoners to play such deadly games. However, as a film that is not based on true characters, Michael Cimino's film doesn't care to cement itself in reality. The deadly game is merely the tool to portray the horrors of war, the plot device to propel the characters into a depressing downward spiral. The film is a raw examination of the damages of war to mental health and how it can change a human being. Cimino wants the audience to feel terrified of this horrible place these innocent men are sent. The prison is small, cluttered, and a cage for misbehaved prisoners is half submerged in water where rats swarm and gnaw at the only part of the prison that isn't submerged. This heightened reality is obviously more horrific than any place on this earth could be. There is no reason not to believe that Cimino is trying to depict a personal hell; a prison for the mind and body.
"The Deer Hunter" is notorious for it's length and pacing. The film acts almost like a trilogy of films condensed into a single feature. The pace and setting changes significantly three times in the film. A more carefree and nostalgic first act shows our drunken entourage sing and drink and kiss girls without a care in the world. They are future war heroes that will make their country proud, they believe in America and look to the future with blind optimism. De Niro, always at his best as a disconnected loner whose surface is always a few shades brighter than his true self which he often reveals to the audience early on and not to the fellow characters until the end. In this film, De Niro follows up his brilliant performance in "Taxi Driver" with an equal degree of talent. His best characters always seem to follow the same pattern, but De Niro makes his characters fascinating in new and interesting ways in each of his films because he is a master of subtleties. Michael is psychologically tormented and aggravated much like Travis Bickle was, but in different ways that force him to behave different around people and make him evolve into a different person come the third act. De Niro's characters always struggle, but they are able to shift in new and interesting directions. In the case of Michael in this film, he is a jealous, lonely, but fun and entertaining. During the war his inner angst gives him more strength than his carefree friends in times of desperation and give him a frightening maturity in the final act where games are no longer fun and the woman he loves is no longer behind an obstacle of a friend because Michael has given up compromise and humility. He will take his friends girl because he has lost his compassion.
The friends are all workers at a steel mill. Three of which are sent off to Vietnam. Instantly, these characters are relatable. They are working class everyday men who go to the local bar for a good time and enjoy a simple, small town life. When De Niro returns from the war in the final act, his home that was alive with activity and a steel mill filled with shots of sparks and people at work suddenly transforms into a place of unease and silence. The film depicts the working class as those who suffered the greatest during the war, and yet at home everyone acts like nothing has changed. These people are the ones who form the communities and give them personality. Once their personality is stolen, their towns become barren.
The film's second act is the actual Vietnam part of the film. As stated before, this part is hell itself. Audiences, unaware of the artistic interpretation of war presented in this film, misunderstood the film as some form of sick entertainment. The American heroes forced to commit suicide in tensely paced horror scenes while the villainous Vietcong cackled at their helpless prisoners. It's something that made audiences understandably uncomfortable, it didn't represent American soldiers as G.I. Joe impersonators, kicking ass and taking names. Instead, the people we had spent the first hour sympathizing with were now losing that humanity that made us root for them. Suddenly, Cimino shifts gears on us and does a drastic move that most filmmakers would never dare: he removed any relatable, likable qualities from our protagonists. They become like androids, Christopher Walken become especially bad as a man now twisted by the thrill of the violent games, as if they were the only thing that could make him feel alive anymore, who would no longer listen to reason. He was violent and his eyes appeared empty. De Niro's Michael became loud, aggressive, and isolated. This is exactly where "The Deer Hunter" transforms itself into a masterpiece. Instead of taking the safe route by continuing to allow the audience to suffer with the characters and sympathize for their horrible ordeals, Cimino makes us hate what they have become, we are unsure if we should continue to root for them and we curse the horrible war that destroyed them.
The final act once again returns us to Pennsylvania post-war. There is incredible contrast between the pre-war and post-war Pennsylvania portions of the film. We return to familiar terrain, but it's like returning to an old home, it's full of memories but it will never be the same. Unlike the light spirited Pennsylvania and the industrial activities of the first chapter of the film, the return is filled with eerie silence. Long pauses and Michael trying to connect back to a world he left behind. The scenes are dimly lit and evoke a certain depression, it's like returning to some sort of ghost town. It is at the point that the haters have undoubtedly given up on the film, so the only ones left are those who are clung on to the horrific drama of these people. At this point, the audience is well aware optimism is foolish conventional nonsense and we will see none of it here. Cimino shamelessly continues the films downward spiral as events continuously get bleaker and lives crumble before us, even long after the war. Cimino wants the audience to realize that the Vietnam war did not begin and end in Vietnam. It invaded the psyche of the soldiers and they brought it home with them; it would continue to battle with them and their friends after everything appeared to be fine. In closing, the film cryptically leaves the camera rested at the end of a dinner table where the remaining friends sing "God Bless America" in such broken spirits that their monotone voices scream louder than any singing possibly could. There are different ways to interpret their song and what it signifies. I like to think that these people are so broken and without anything to believe in that they simply must believe in their country, even if it is the country that chewed them up, spit them out and proceeded to act like nothing is wrong. These people need to believe their actions were just and that America is still the land of the free and opportunity. They have lost everything, and need something to cling on to.
Second, "The Deer Hunter" was the first of a long list of Vietnam War films to be shown to American audiences following the war. Like all truly brilliant films, "The Deer Hunter" challenged it's audience and was received with strong praise from some and strong disgust from others. A public who had just witnessed the horrors of the Vietnam War were now expected to watch a film about it as entertainment? The thing that many people did not understand was that "The Deer Hunter" is not entertainment, it is art. Every inaccuracy in the film's depiction of the war is clear and deliberate. This is as much a film about war as it is a film about hell itself. Following this film was "Apocalypse Now" which treaded into similar themes of dehumanization and madness. A second wave of anti-war Vietnam films would later be produced almost a full decade later, most notably with "Platoon" and "Full Metal Jacket", but these films all owe a great debt to "The Deer Hunter" which absorbed the shock factor from audiences who would eventually come to accept the subject as a popular topic for film. Like later films that deal with American tragedy such as "United 93", some critics would attack the filmmakers for jumping on a touchy subject to squeeze out a film that is ripe with sympathy from the audience still affected by the aftermath of the event; others would appreciate the mature tribute that films like "Deer Hunter" and "United 93" portrayed to those who suffered and died in both Vietnam and 9/11. It is fortunate that "The Deer Hunter" is as elegant as it is, otherwise it may not have been able to pull off the almost instantaneous post-Vietnam release.
The first major objection to the film came in the controversial Russian Roulette scenes. The film depicts a group of friends who are drafted and sent to fight in Vietnam. Three of the group are captured in P.O.W. camp and forced to play vicious games of Russian Roulette for the gambling and enjoyment of their Vietcong captors. The Vietcong as displayed as vicious, heartless monsters who hoot and holler at the sight of one prisoner blowing his brains out. The frustration from the audience erupted over the fact that there is no evidence that any P.O.W. camp forced it's prisoners to play such deadly games. However, as a film that is not based on true characters, Michael Cimino's film doesn't care to cement itself in reality. The deadly game is merely the tool to portray the horrors of war, the plot device to propel the characters into a depressing downward spiral. The film is a raw examination of the damages of war to mental health and how it can change a human being. Cimino wants the audience to feel terrified of this horrible place these innocent men are sent. The prison is small, cluttered, and a cage for misbehaved prisoners is half submerged in water where rats swarm and gnaw at the only part of the prison that isn't submerged. This heightened reality is obviously more horrific than any place on this earth could be. There is no reason not to believe that Cimino is trying to depict a personal hell; a prison for the mind and body.
"The Deer Hunter" is notorious for it's length and pacing. The film acts almost like a trilogy of films condensed into a single feature. The pace and setting changes significantly three times in the film. A more carefree and nostalgic first act shows our drunken entourage sing and drink and kiss girls without a care in the world. They are future war heroes that will make their country proud, they believe in America and look to the future with blind optimism. De Niro, always at his best as a disconnected loner whose surface is always a few shades brighter than his true self which he often reveals to the audience early on and not to the fellow characters until the end. In this film, De Niro follows up his brilliant performance in "Taxi Driver" with an equal degree of talent. His best characters always seem to follow the same pattern, but De Niro makes his characters fascinating in new and interesting ways in each of his films because he is a master of subtleties. Michael is psychologically tormented and aggravated much like Travis Bickle was, but in different ways that force him to behave different around people and make him evolve into a different person come the third act. De Niro's characters always struggle, but they are able to shift in new and interesting directions. In the case of Michael in this film, he is a jealous, lonely, but fun and entertaining. During the war his inner angst gives him more strength than his carefree friends in times of desperation and give him a frightening maturity in the final act where games are no longer fun and the woman he loves is no longer behind an obstacle of a friend because Michael has given up compromise and humility. He will take his friends girl because he has lost his compassion.
The friends are all workers at a steel mill. Three of which are sent off to Vietnam. Instantly, these characters are relatable. They are working class everyday men who go to the local bar for a good time and enjoy a simple, small town life. When De Niro returns from the war in the final act, his home that was alive with activity and a steel mill filled with shots of sparks and people at work suddenly transforms into a place of unease and silence. The film depicts the working class as those who suffered the greatest during the war, and yet at home everyone acts like nothing has changed. These people are the ones who form the communities and give them personality. Once their personality is stolen, their towns become barren.
The film's second act is the actual Vietnam part of the film. As stated before, this part is hell itself. Audiences, unaware of the artistic interpretation of war presented in this film, misunderstood the film as some form of sick entertainment. The American heroes forced to commit suicide in tensely paced horror scenes while the villainous Vietcong cackled at their helpless prisoners. It's something that made audiences understandably uncomfortable, it didn't represent American soldiers as G.I. Joe impersonators, kicking ass and taking names. Instead, the people we had spent the first hour sympathizing with were now losing that humanity that made us root for them. Suddenly, Cimino shifts gears on us and does a drastic move that most filmmakers would never dare: he removed any relatable, likable qualities from our protagonists. They become like androids, Christopher Walken become especially bad as a man now twisted by the thrill of the violent games, as if they were the only thing that could make him feel alive anymore, who would no longer listen to reason. He was violent and his eyes appeared empty. De Niro's Michael became loud, aggressive, and isolated. This is exactly where "The Deer Hunter" transforms itself into a masterpiece. Instead of taking the safe route by continuing to allow the audience to suffer with the characters and sympathize for their horrible ordeals, Cimino makes us hate what they have become, we are unsure if we should continue to root for them and we curse the horrible war that destroyed them.
The final act once again returns us to Pennsylvania post-war. There is incredible contrast between the pre-war and post-war Pennsylvania portions of the film. We return to familiar terrain, but it's like returning to an old home, it's full of memories but it will never be the same. Unlike the light spirited Pennsylvania and the industrial activities of the first chapter of the film, the return is filled with eerie silence. Long pauses and Michael trying to connect back to a world he left behind. The scenes are dimly lit and evoke a certain depression, it's like returning to some sort of ghost town. It is at the point that the haters have undoubtedly given up on the film, so the only ones left are those who are clung on to the horrific drama of these people. At this point, the audience is well aware optimism is foolish conventional nonsense and we will see none of it here. Cimino shamelessly continues the films downward spiral as events continuously get bleaker and lives crumble before us, even long after the war. Cimino wants the audience to realize that the Vietnam war did not begin and end in Vietnam. It invaded the psyche of the soldiers and they brought it home with them; it would continue to battle with them and their friends after everything appeared to be fine. In closing, the film cryptically leaves the camera rested at the end of a dinner table where the remaining friends sing "God Bless America" in such broken spirits that their monotone voices scream louder than any singing possibly could. There are different ways to interpret their song and what it signifies. I like to think that these people are so broken and without anything to believe in that they simply must believe in their country, even if it is the country that chewed them up, spit them out and proceeded to act like nothing is wrong. These people need to believe their actions were just and that America is still the land of the free and opportunity. They have lost everything, and need something to cling on to.