No Way Out

Rating: 8/10 (13 December 2010)

The Dear Hunter is an excellent film that depicts the Vietnam war. It shows a good amount of pre-war, as well as during and post-war. The pre- war scenes are to get to know the various characters, the war scenes are to depict the brutality of the Vietnam war, and the post-war scenes are to see how the war really effected each individual in various ways.
The various Russian Roulette sequences was one of the directors's ways of showing that no matter what, there is no way of getting out (of the war as well as the game) without being severely mentally traumatized or dead. I agree with the director's concept. It seems to me as though the Vietnam was so traumatizing, so fierce, so brutal, so grotesque, that it would be wrong for someone to survive unaffected my it at all. (Just like a game of Russian Roulette). If you play long enough, you die, but even once is enough to change a life forever. The tension of pulling the trigger and not knowing if it would be your last moment on earth... Men feared everyday in Vietnam that every day would be their last.
The men knew the dangers of going into the war. They knew that they could die, be held captive, or survive and come back to their friends and families as completely different people. They knew that nothing positive could come of it but they knew that it was their duty to serve their country. They were patriots who gave it all for their beloved country.