The Greatest Film About Friendship And War's Effects On People

Rating: 10/10 (27 September 2012)

The Deer Hunter is a drama film directed and co-written by Michael Cimino about a trio of Russian American steel worker friends and their infantry service in the Vietnam War. It stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage, John Cazale, Meryl Streep and George Dzundza. The story takes place in Clairton, a small working class town on the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh and then in Vietnam, somewhere in the woodland and in Saigon.It is one of the many films about dealing with the Vietnam War that was both renowned for its tough portrayal of the war's effect on people particularly those belonging to the working class group and friendship.
Mike,Nick and Stan celebrate the wedding of their friend Steve and go on a final deer hunt before the men leave for Vietnam. Mike treats hunting as a test of skill, lecturing Stan about the value of "one shot" deer slaying and brushing off Nick's urgings to appreciate nature's beauty. As Mike ruminates post-hunt, the screenplay cuts to the horror of Vietnam, where the men are captured by Vietcong soldiers who force Mike and Nick to play Russian roulette for their amusement. Mike turns the game to his advantage so they can escape captivity, but the men are permanently scarred by the episode. Steve loses his legs. Nick vanishes in the Saigon Russian roulette parlors. Mike returns alone to Clairton a changed man, as he rejects the killing of the deer hunt and finds solace with Nick's old girlfriend Linda. Disgusted by the antics of his male cohorts at home, Mike decides to bring Steve back from a veterans' hospital, and he returns to Saigon to find Nick. As Saigon falls, Mike discovers how far gone Nick is and the survivors gather in Clairton for a funeral breakfast.
This is one of the greatest films ever made about friendship and the personal impact of war. It's hardly a conventional battle film but its depiction of war on an intimate scale packs a devastatingly dramatic punch. Cimino may be manipulating our emotions with masterful skill, but he does it in a way that stirs the soul and pinches our collective nerves with graphic, high-intensity scenes of men under life-threatening duress. To the viewer, they become unforgettably intense rites of passage for the best friends who may survive or perish during their Vietnam tour through a tropical landscape of hell. Back home, their loved ones must cope with the war's domestic impact. Its greatness is enhanced by Michael Cimino's sympathetic direction and a series of heartbreaking performances especially from De Niro,Streep and Walken. Overall,the film achieves a rare combination of epic storytelling and intimate,heart-rending drama.