Operatic touches undermine naturalism, glacial pace mutes emotion

Rating: 7/10 (13 January 2019)

The central image and metaphor of this film-Americans being forced to play Russian Roulette by the Viet Cong-is both maddeningly effective as a cinematic device and works against much of the rest of the film. Whatever you wish to say about the senselessness of war, the Vietnam war especially, is captured by the random cruelty and striking brutality of the roulette scenes. It simply works to dramatize the existential dread veterans must feel. Unfortunately, it also dehumanizes the Viet Cong and simplifies the war into a good vs. evil struggle. More to the point, much of the rest of the film has an easy naturalism to it that stands apart from the roulette scenes. One could argue war should stand apart from everyday life but the film includes other operatic touches. Whether it is a few drops of wine split, deer, or the sun dogs the film has just enough of these things to think the roulette scenes were meant to be a tonal extension of the domestic scenes. But it doesn't fully work. Is the final scene irony or no? The tonal clashes present make answer that question impossible.
Nonetheless, the domestic scenes are quite strong; the various guys are fleshed out in ways that are human and authentically blue collar. The first hour and the final 15 minutes or so are gripping and emotionally powerful due to this. Much of this is due to the cast being who they are as the pace works against emotional release. Indeed the film simply feels like it stops at times and this creates a weird sense of narrative momentum. The film is bit draining s a result but a slightly tighter editing scheme would have been better.
This is an unusual film combining several different sources of inspiration-a heist story, Vietnam, and the director's (alleged) life. The result is a sprawling film that is not as strong as it could have been. But the times it is effortlessly cinematic is worth the warts.