Russian Roulette

Rating: 9/10 (15 December 2016)

The Russian Roulette game was meant to symbolize the war in Vietnam. The three outcomes are death, physical injury, and mental scarring. If you get the 1/6 chance of the bullet, you die. If you get the bullet, but tilt the gun away, you get a lasting physical injury. If you get the 5/6 chance of no bullet, the fact that you could have killed yourself leaves psychological trauma. The director is trying to show that no one can escape the war in Vietnam unscathed. Yet, it is considered patriotic to go and serve your country, no matter the cost to the soldiers. It is the older generation (politicians) who declares war, but the younger generation who fights.