The Russian roulette sequence

Rating: 4/10 (16 May 2007)

The next comment is on the Russian roulette sequence of the film "Deer Hunter."
In the movie, the main characters are drafted into the Viet Nam war. Captured and tortured, these characters are made to play games of Russian roulette. None of these characters die, however, they become mentally, and physically abused and will never be the same again. The idea of Russian roulette, though highly explored in the movie, has no relevance in the the actual Viet Nam war and was never plaid. So why add the gruesome details of this game into the story? The point of adding this game is so simple, it is easily disregarded.
The game was added for symbolism purposes. The fact of Viet Nam is that there are three ways one can return from the war. A man can return dead, psychologically disturbed, or Physically maimed. The entrance into the war is literally a lose, lose situation. In the game Russian roulette, it is also a lose, lose situation. If a man plays long enough he can die, if a man doesn't play very long he can still become mentally hurt, and in Steve's case, in the film a man can also be wounded by the gun by just grazing his head.
Personally I believe this sequence of Russian roulette playing is stupid. If they didn't actually play the game in Viet Nam, why add it? The symbolism purposes that the director uses are very interesting, but I believe there are other ways that it could have been done without adding something that wasn't even in the war.