Finger on the trigger,

Rating: 7/10 (12 December 2012)

the Vietnam war was perhaps the greatest example of savagery. The game of Russian roulette is a perfect example of such dehumanization. The deer hunter uses Russian roulette as a symbolic metaphor for the Vietnam war itself, no matter who pulls the trigger somebody will always end up dead in the end. During the hostage scene while Robert Deniro (mike) and Christopher Walken (nick) are forced to play at gun point. Nick goes into a panic attack as he is forced to play, he was always a risk taker but now that he realizes his life is in danger he buckles under the pressure and cant take it. Mike tries to talk him through it as the gun is forced into nicks hand and the trigger is pulled. The directors choice in sound is a fantastic feature, the much anticipated click of the hammer, followed by the thump of the barrel rolling into place adds an extreme amounts of suspense that you can know will build up to a sudden and untimely demise. The director uses this scene to display the cruelty and dehumanization in guerrilla warfare. cruelty that can be used for recreational purposes amongst the ranks.
Later on in the film when mike travels back to Vietnam deep into the center of an underground gambling facility he finds nick playing the same game his captors made him play, for sport. nick never could resist a gamble as a risk taker and decides to do risk his life night after night for large payouts. It is assumed that Nick is high on opium or some sort of narcotic because when mike approaches him he has no prior memory of his best friend.Nick ends up blowing his brains out and mike takes his body home from Vietnam to America.the director uses nicks death as an example that if you keep testing your luck it will eventually run out and end in horrible circumstances.