Simply the greatest war movie ever made. 10/10

Rating: 10/10 (6 December 2003)

If there is one type of movie that I have grown critical of over the years, it would be the mass amount of war movies and their lack of substance. It seems as if every war movie that is released is competing in a game of trying to one up the last by showing a more fantastic way to kill someone. I find this quite sad; not because of the use of images to capture an audience, but because I feel we lose a real understanding of why wars are fought. In the midst of all of these supposed great war movies critics throw at us every year, there are very few that have reached and tried to explain what war really is and how it affects humanity. Not only do I believe that The Deer Hunter is the greatest war movie ever to do this, but I also think it has one of the most affecting scenes for the audience to watch in movie history. This movie uses a symbolic device to drive the movie in an emotional way that never tries to preach, and instead gives the audience a glimpse of what war can do to humanity an many levels. War movies are special because they can quantify so much about life and death that other types of movies cannot, but this also places higher expectations for the genre itself. The Deer Hunter provides some of the finest acting that any movie will ever be able to offer, and will be sure to transform you in some way.