Deep Emotional Impact'

Rating: 9/10 (22 August 2013)

Watch this film.
The film speaks to the lives we live and i think the director is making a point about free will, or the concept of it.
There are choices we get to make in life, and there are situations that are thrust upon us that we have no control over.
Going to Vietnam, Getting married, Being the type of hunter who is majestic and believes in a principle ( one shot ) or runs around like a sloppy drunk shooting nonsense into the air... these are the choices that we make in our life.
Then there is the gun. You have no choice on if the bullet is in the chamber, or if it is not. The only choice you should have is if you play the game, that choice was taken from these young men which effected them all differently.
1) De Niro plays the idealistic character, the type who believes in things more important than hedonistic pleasure. This is why when he hunts, he uses the one bullet belief, and there is a moment between him and his prey.
2) Walken plays the agnostic type view, he neither hates nor loves the idealism of De Niro, but instead takes no stance on it at first and simply reflects on the beauty of the tree's and wondering if he is an asshole or not.
3) Steve: forget the actor's name, but he represents the boy who never really became a man, his thoughts are never deeply explored, but his actions reveal his thoughts, that he neither holds idealism or can rely strictly on self reflection and earthly delights.
the effects of Gun on each:
De Niro: De Niro's idealism goes out the window when presented with life or death questions, he is the closest to being a theist in his views and becomes an atheist in that murky rat filled water. We know this when he tells Walken they are going to abandon Steve. De Niro throws any sense of idealism out the window from then on out, and realizes that we cannot make and uphold our's or anyone else's "rules"... that we only have choices and reactions to our situations.
De Niro's abandonment of his idealism is what saves him, and why he does not kill the deer at the end, he has learned that life it's self, or the joy of the hunt is the true purpose, and not the idealism of actually killing your prey with one shot.
Walken: Walkens character at first can deal with the situation, but becomes stuck in that moment and cannot escape it. He has no idealism to loose, and now the beauty of the tree's has gone, and he has nothing left but self reflection. He cannot get past why the bullet was not in the chamber for him, and must repeat the situation until he feels he has taken control back over his life, of course he can only do this by ending his life.
Steve: Steve being the eternal boy he is needs to be saved, cracks first, and is dependent on everyone else.
In the end we realize our own traditions and idealism or lack there of lead us to certain points, some we can over come and some we cannot.
De Niro comes out the best because he see's this and reacts to it, Walken and Steve are forever stuck in that moment.
This is how the movie effected me personally.