Russian Roulette

Rating: 7/10 (14 December 2010)

#1. The symbolism for the Russian Roulette sequences. What was the director trying to get at? Do you agree or disagree with his concept? Include with this our discussion as related to patriotism.
Though Russian Roulette was not used as a form of physical and mental torture in the Vietnam war, it can be argued that the game is used as a metaphor for the outlook some soldiers in Vietnam may have had. Russian Roulette is all about playing the odds; wagering on survival and chance. However, if you play the game long enough you are bound to lose - which was the same case with the war in Vietnam. The way the Vietnamese set up the game in the POW bungalow created a lose-lose situation for the POWs. If the prisoners refused to play, they were drowned. If they did play, one of the players would be forced to kill himself and the other would proceed to the next round. It is more than likely that all the prisoners would die at their own hand. After being forced to play (perhaps a metaphor for being drafted into the war) Steve did not make it out of the first round of Russian Roulette unscathed while his friends survived. Next, Mike and Nick play each other with 3 bullets in the chamber; a highly risky move on Mike's part. Again, the men luck out,but Nick does not come out of the match completely unharmed. Playing Russian Roulette (fighting in the war) changed Nick - he became a junkie and detached and addicted to the fear and risk of Russian Roulette. Nick ended up killing himself in another game against Mike as many veterans killed themselves after similar psychological damage after the war was over.