symbolism of Russian roulette sequences

Rating: Null/10 (12 June 2007)

In The Deer Hunter the director was trying to prove that the soldiers of Vietnam were in a lose/ lose situation, which was portrayed by the Russian Roulette sequences. In Russian Roulette, if you keep playing you will eventually die, and if you give up playing and get away alive, you are still going to be emotionally scarred by the previous games. This ideology can relate to the soldiers who were in the Vietnam war, because in a way, they were in a lose/lose situation as well. If they signed up for war, they were looked down upon because they supported what was going on in the United States at that time. If they were drafted into the war, they still were looked down upon for being involved in what was going on. The Vietnam War was one that can be considered the most controversial, and like Russian Roulette even if the soldiers did play or go into war, in essence they were going to eventually really die or their spirits would die from the traumatic events they were put through during Vietnam. I strongly agree with the directors concept of relating RR to Vietnam because in my mind it makes perfect sense; it's kind of like you know its bad but there's nothing you can do about it because you're stuck in it and can't turn back, and will be looked down upon no matter what decisions you make.