The Only Vietnam Movie Worth Watching

Rating: Null/10 (30 July 2002)

On the right wing side, we've got John Wayne's Green Berets, Stallone's Rambo, and Norris's Braddock, which portray the Vietnam War with such jingoistic fervor that you'd think the American Revolution was merely the result of spilled tea. On the left wing side, we've got the Stone duo (Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July), as well as more forgettable flicks, in which U.S. soldiers in Vietnam do little more besides rape and butcher innocent civilians, smoke dope, and suffer numerous friendly fire deaths. The Deer Hunter blows em all away. Cimino's truly apolitical portrayal of the war, in which he shows the courage of men who fight for their country while also subtly questioning the horrors of the conflict itself, is not only original but also remarkably accurate. Even though many have angrily objected to the notorious Russian Roulette sequence, which may or may not have been a total fabrication (depending on who you believe, people who were there and testified to its existence or possibly biased journalists who assert that no sources exist to substantiate the claims), the real-life documented horrors of captured POWs were far worse. Shoving bamboo shoots under fingernails, stretching limbs with rope to the point of pain and often breakage, and other forms of NVA/VC torture were obviously too extreme for a mainstream film, and thus I am certain viewers are grateful for not having been exposed to such images. The initial roulette scene was my favorite in the film because of the bravery DeNiro's character exhibited under such pressure. It is definitely a unique moment in cinema history.