How war destroys the lives of innocent people...

Rating: 9/10 (16 February 2020)

"The Deer Hunter" is a 1978 war drama directed by Michael Cimino starring Robert DeNiro and Christopher Walken. Films centred around the brutality and meaninglessness of war have always played a major role in modern cinema and never failed to remind the audience of said aspects. Each and every war in the history of mankind was at least depicted once and, in the most cases, in a super realistic manner. From classic World War II drama "Saving Private Ryan" to recently released World War I feature "1917" every single battle is at least represented once. The Vietnam war makes no exception in this concept. But before there was Francis Ford Coppola's epos, there was "The Deer Hunter". If my researches are correct it's one of the first, if not literally the first film to depict this horrifying time in history that seems to still pose as a trauma in the hearts of countless Americans. And yet, it's not a genre typical movie at all, because the conflict itself is a means to the end. Basically, it's a character study centered around the soldiers in the first place. This three hour long cinematic colossus is principally divided into three stages: Before, during and after the protagonists have been to hell. While it could be seen as a narrative flaw that the scenes are generally stretched and simply too long in the first place, I think that's one of the films extraordinary strengths. In the first act, it intentionally takes much time to build up the character constellation and gives us the chance to intensively get to know them. Before they went to war, they're only a group of best friends from a Pennsylvanian industrial small town enjoying life to the fullest, fooling around, drinking beer and go hunting and celebrating their best friend's wedding as the climax. It's supposed to portray the simplicity and carelessness of life - without any worries and problems. The first hour of runtime literally shows how they do said things. It might be a decision other viewers might dislike, but I personally love this almost tragically slow pace. It had an effect on me, because in this one specific scene where on of the friends quietly plays the piano and the others become silent is just breathtaking, because they all become aware of what will happen next. Supported by the rough editing style, the film then all suddenly switches to Vietnam at a moment's notice. Without any preparation or unnecessary stretching. That's the metaphorical brutality I was talking about. In the second act, the brutality shows itself through blood, gore and nasty violence, what it has literally always been, reaching the top in the first Russian roulette scene. High tension and brilliant acting at it's finest, gut-wrentching and shocking in both effects and narration. Surprisingly, of it's whole duration the film spends the shortest amount of time on the battlefield, as it then focuses on the three individual cases of the now separated friends: DeNiro's Michael comes home to find himself in a place that doesn't feel like home anymore and seems to no longer enjoy the things that used to make him happy, Savage's Steven is crippled and physically suffers from the effects of combat and Walker's Nick is AWOL and sick of the pointlessness of fighting. It mercilessly continues to show how a meaningless war destroys the easy lives and friendship of simple men and disrupts them irreversibly. Astonishing character development included. It's ingeniously underlined by two prominent metaphors. The first being the Russian roulette that occurs in the context of enforcement, entertainment and free choice and is supposed to show that anyone can die in a war that was motivated by many different aspects and may cost the life of anyone, out of nowhere and randomly. The second metaphor is the meaning of the titular deer hunting, as it's supposed to boldly show how senseless killing of any living creature is. All in all, this touching character study relentlessly depicts how a meaningless war impacts the lives of innocent and happy young humans permanently. It's absolutely brutal on many levels, from visuals to emotional depth and once again shows through unusual, yet excellent writing and acting performances of its leads that nobody ever wins at war. An important entry to the genre and magnificent example that a three hour behemoth can feel like a ninety minutes feature without any problems. That's cinema at it's finest.