Deer Hunter

Rating: 8/10 (28 November 2014)

1.) I believe the director was trying to make the Russian Roulette sequence a symbol of each of their lives and how it touches the sanity of those who play it. I liked how the director incorporated it into the movie. It shows just the difference the 3 friends became since that event. Ever since the Russian Roulette game in Vietnam, the three friends never looked at a gun the same way again. For example, when Stan had a loaded gun aimed at Axel for fun, Michael took it seriously and even played a roulette game on himself and Stan. It seemed as though he wanted to make himself clear that playing with a gun is not a game and can lead to serious consequences. Nick became psychologically disturbed after having been forced to cheat death with the game, and went on to cheat death multiple times afterwards. It seems as though he cracked and was no longer aware of what he was doing or anyone else around him. Life just became a game. 2.) I don't believe that their different approaches to life served as an accurate prelude as to what was going to happen. Anything could have happened in the War to anyone. It just so happens that Stevie ended up having both legs amputated while Nick ended up psychologically damaged. Michael was the only one to come out of this with the least amount of damage physically or mentally. I believe any of this could have happened to either one of the three. 3.) I believe that the French character represents the darkness. He basically leads Nick into more darkness. The scene where Michael sees Nick but Nick doesn't see him and goes off with the French guy is really emotional. Nick could have been saved by Michael at that exact moment, but instead goes off with the Devil himself as it was too late to stop them. I believe the French guy represents the evil that leads Nick to delve deeper into his out-of-state mind. 4.) Mike goes back to Vietnam to find Nick after he found hope that Nick might still be alive there. When Mike went to visit Stevie in the hospital, Steve notes that someone has been sending him money monthly from Saigon, at the time very dangerous. Mike concludes that it couldn't have been anyone else but Nick, and so he set forth to find him. Unfortunately, it ended in disaster as Russian roulette ended Nick's life in the hands of a grieving Mike.