5. The Deer Hunter (1978)
The Deer Hunter, directed by Michael Cimino, deals with three steelworkers of Russian descent who live in a small working class Pennsylvanian town and who are assigned to military service in Vietnam. The film is divided into three segments. The first segment three friends - Mike, Steven and Nick get up to a spot of deer hunting before going to military service. The theme of 'one shot' - how Mike likes to take down his deer is introduced. There is an Orthodox marriage between Steven and his love Angela. The lads get drunk in a veteran's bar but get menaced by a Green Beret whom they try and engage in conversation about Vietnam. The bride and groom intertwine their arms and drink wine from a goblet. If they don't spill any - it is a good sign. An unnoticed drop falls on the bride's dress. In the second act, action takes place in Vietnam with the lads being captured by the enemy and forced to play Russian Roulette with a loaded gun against each other. After some fairly tense scenes, they blow away their captors and escape. A random American helicopter tries to rescue them. Nick gets away but Steven has a fall and breaks both legs. Mike goes after him to save him. He manages to get him into friendly territory. Nick is in hospital in Saigon - he has severe mental problems. He goes to the red light district. Yet more Russian Roulette shenanigans take place. In the third act life returns to Pennsylvania. Mike comes home but does not want a lot of fuss made over him. He is eager to find out what has happened to Steven and Nick. Steven has been in a veteran's hospital for several months. Mike goes hunting but cannot kill the deer as he has seen too much slaughter and is now dead set against the horrors of war. Mike visits Steven who is now a double amputee. Steven tells Mike he has been receiving a lot of money from Saigon. Mike goes to Saigon to a Russian Roulette club and finds Nick whose mind has gone down the swanny. Mike tries desperately to get through to him and reminds him of their hunting trips. Something penetrates the veil, Nick says "One shot" and blows his head off. The last thing we see is Nick's funeral back in Pennsylvania. The Deer Hunter is a very elegant and absorbing film. It went wildly over budget but the results are worth it - the film received Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director - the ultimate accolades. Another firmly antiwar picture, Mike escapes as the least damaged person but he is still a haunted man. Steven is physically destroyed and Nick is downright insane. The film generated a lot of controversy upon its release - mainly about the portrayal of the North Vietnamese people as savage, vicious inhumane killers and also over the historical veracity of the Russian Roulette sequences. I personally not think historical accuracy matters in the latter case. I see the scene where they play Russian Roulette and they blast away their captors as a very important symbol in the film - a cathartic opportunity for American audiences to vent their frustration at losing the war. The film is very long but it coaxes awesome performances from its stars - Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep to name a few. It's food for the brain.