A Human Heritage

Rating: 10/10 (15 September 2008)

The experiences of war and of killing and of an individual's life after having lived through the decision to die are things that the vast majority of us cannot have an intimate knowledge of. At the moment, our society is too far removed from that kind of direct experience. Nonetheless, a good film cast and crew has the capacity to remind the viewer that such experiences are part and parcel of our human heritage.
I have to say heritage because without immediate experience, what else could it be that allows us to be so moved by a film like The Deer Hunter? Whether we, in our relatively safe and sanitised society, are able to recognise it or not, our pasts are filled with the violence of those who survived. Perhaps this is the source of our intense reactions upon watching The Deer Hunter. That is to say, the costs of violence and death have been embedded deep into our human psyche.
This is a movie that transcends any notion of film genre. It is most certainly NOT a movie about the 'Vietnam War'. Don't be mislead by those who would lead you into thinking about and judging this movie on the basis of their own quasi-political message. Small minds see small facts. The facts of The Deer Hunter are the performances of it's actors and actresses. In a movie like this, these are the only facts worth considering.
The Deer Hunter is about consequence! Forget the critics who decry the almost hour long wedding scene and claim that such a scene serves no narrative purpose. Fools, those critics be! The lot of them. Anything that creates space for the heart to be able to reflect serves the narrative purpose. This film explores the contrast between ignorance (innocence?) and the finality of death. It explores the decision to die - and to live. Far be it for the director to have to sanitise the movie by colouring death's finality for us. Action from the very first eliminates the space for reflection and without such reflection we find the fatal error of so many war movies.
How many reading this review (and more importantly, watching the movie) are prepared to voluntarily end their own lives for the sakes of their friends? I shuddered when this question was thrust upon me. A lack of honesty at this junction of the film will serve to remind the viewer of The Deer Hunter's value.
Consequences exist for all of our actions. Some of them, or should I dare say, the majority of them, are seemingly inconsequential or at the least, are easily hidden. The Deer Hunter reminds us that some of the consequences of our decisions have a long history and cannot be so easily forgotten.