Not a great Vietnam movie, a great portrait of Americans

Rating: 8/10 (10 November 1999)

I've seen Deer Hunter twice since I saw it in first run, and I liked it. It doesn't compare to Apocalypse now, which had a much broader focus, nor to Full Metal Jacket, which was more about individual psychology. I dismiss Platoon as a standard brand war movie. Like FMJ, this one has that long opening to contrast normal life for these characters, to what their subsequent experience turned them into. These are no pacifist whimps. No, they like shooting and killing for sport. But after their experiences one comes home to be a peaceful thoughtful husband while the other stays behind as a suicidal junkie with a death wish who plays russian roulette for money. Why? How do they resolve this?
Every war since recorded history has left its shells of homeless beggars and lost souls in the countryside, heck Ulysses wandered for twenty years. This film is one of the few that attempts to explore this from the perspective of two archetypical American male stereotypes.
Not the most amusing or moving entertainment, but a must see for anyone into historical films that make any attempt to gain insight into what war does to the human soul. (This should also be the perspective from which we should see the portrayal of "The Enemy.")