Maybe the best film about the Vietnam War

Rating: Null/10 (24 September 1999)

Most films depicting the Vietnam War asks the unanswerable question, "What were we fighting for?" An intruiging question, no doubt....and one of which many excellent films about America's darkest hour has used as the premise. But what makes "The Deer Hunter" such a masterpiece is that is doesn't seek to answer that question. Instead, it presents a new idea: "When does the fighting end?"
Robert DeNiro gives one of the strongest roles of his career as a common, ordinary deer hunter who goes to Vietnam and comes home a changed man. This is the story of his struggle, and it brilliantly shows what effects war has on people, and how the graphic images and experiences never leave the mind. This is one of the greatest examples of how war changes people, both the troops and their loved ones, and how it changes people in drastically different ways.
Filled with so much symbolism that it bursts out in vivid colors, intense acting (Christopher Walken got a much-deserved supporting actor Oscar), and offering a superb character study, this is a film that is not to be missed. It also contains some graphic scenes form Vietnam that are not for the squeamish: the Russian roullette scene might be one of the most dramatic and heart-stopping war segments ever filmed. If you watch this film, prepare to be haunted by it for the rest of your days....I know that it will certainly never leave me!
"One shot....yeah...."
**** out of ****