A Potent Anti-War Film

Rating: 10/10 (16 June 2007)

With the outbreak of the Vietnam War, Hollywood began bursting with a new crop of war films. These films weren't about American honor and the land of the free. Instead, they were about the tragedy of war and its negative effect on people. Some of these films were met with critical contempt and disgust, while others were met with near-universal praise and love. "The Deer Hunter" fits into the category of the latter.
The acting in "The Deer Hunter" is its greatest element. Robert DeNiro is pitch-perfect as usual in a great performance as an intelligent man who finds that his life is spinning and changing rapidly as he goes to war in Vietnam. Meryl Streep is fantastic as well in her star-making performance as a struggling woman who finds herself losing her lover(s) to the terrible war. John Cazale is also very good as one of the more under-the-radar characters. Still, the gold medal for this film belongs to Christopher Walken, who rightfully won the Oscar for his performance as a troubled soldier who handles his losses in the worst ways possible. I won't give anything away, but in the final moments of the film between Walken and DeNiro, more emotions erupt and sadness ensues than in any other war film in history. In fact, I feel almost stupid to call it a war film. It's not really. though some of the sequences in the film are set in Vietnam and involve fighting, this film is not about the fighting and the battles. It rises above films like "Saving Private Ryan" because it's not about the battles themselves, but the people who fight them. It's a tale of love, friendship, loss, life, and death. This is a cinematic masterpiece in which characters are presented realistically and action realistic ways. It's sad but intensely accurate: one of the great films of the ages.