A Real Piece Of Dramatic Art, I Was Blown Away!

Rating: 10/10 (13 August 2008)

Where can I possibly start? The Deer Hunter is truly a piece of art. It is hard to say this is the best war movie, because I find it to be more of a character study and the war involvement is coincidental. I enjoyed getting to know the characters in the beginning of the film, and I also enjoyed the aspect of getting a closer look at not the war, but the mental feel of the war. If I may be so frank to say, I literally crapped my pants in the final Russian roulette scene. I can personally relate to this movie, and I'm sure everyone else can at a time or two throughout their lives. There are so many ways for you to become someone you don't understand. There are so many different aspects of ourselves that we don't even know are there. But there comes a piece of art such as TDH that comes along and touches you personally. This film has taught me that there doesn't have to be a point made across to entertain or enthrall or even relate to you, but simply show yourself. And this is what the characters in this film did, they showed themselves and opened up such dark and mysterious parts of their personalities that becomes all too human. Films like these show us how dysfunctional our society is, and what a complicated world it is we live in. The film itself is slow moving, but there is no "big point/climax" in my eyes that you have to get to. The point of this film is for us to understand that not everyone is a perfect product of society, and it gradually teaches us at a rate we can fully learn. As for the performances, this film has given me great thought into thinking of Walken as one of the greats of our time. He is uncontrollably amazing, even if it seemed too simple. De Niro gave one of the performances of his life, which isn't his norm to do a roll like this, but he was perfect for it. Streep and Cazale are fine supporters, just not at Walken's level at that time. All in all, this film deserves every award out there, and for it to show us such a problem of our own, it rightfully has won. See this movie, see it again, and give thought to it. It is amazing.