ze frenchman

Rating: 8/10 (12 December 2012)

The Frenchman in The Deerhunter represents the French occupation of Vietnam prior to the American occupation. Him introducing Nick to the roulette den symbolizes the french presenting this opportunity to stop communism, as well as gain resources from them. The fact that he no longer deals with that scene or will even show Mike where Nick is. This represents the fact that the French, despite their recent conflict with Vietnam sort of turns a blind eye to the American conflict in Vietnam and even criticizes it. Basically the Frenchman introduced Nick to the conflict then and then turned his back and walked away, just like the french did in Vietnam to the Americans, hence the french nature of the Frenchman.