The Deer Hunter (1978)

 

It's been well documented that director Michael Cimino first made this pretty darn excellent film and then lost his way with the absurdly egotistical 'Heaven's Gate'. Luckily he shows some restraint here, which also explains why 'The Deer Hunter' is still considered one of the best Vietnam-epics out there, even if it does have its flaws. But it hits hard every time one watches it.

We're somewhere in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania and a small town that only exists because there is a steel mill and pretty much everyone in town works there. You know: the perfect ground where to find young impressionable men to go and fight in a war thousands of miles away. 

We meet up with a couple of friends, of which Nick, Mike and Steven are our focal point. They love to go hunting for deer and especially Mike is one who comes alive when he is out there on his own. It's nearing the final night at home and the wedding of Steven with Angela, who girl who is already pregnant (only it's not his, as we later find out). When they are shipped off to Vietnam, it doesn't take too long before the three are captured and forced to play Russian roulette.

One can only imagine that this stuff pretty much traumatizes all of them. 

They manage to escape, but Steven breaks his legs and back and is mostly paralyzed, whereas Nick is extremely scarred on a mental level. Mike seems to have come out the best, but maybe he is just better at compartmentalising everything, who knows? 

Upon his return back home, Mike finds he can't really fit back in, as it's tough to relate to people who haven't been through hell the way he has been. Steven hasn't returned home and Nick is still missing, which causes Mike severe unrest and he wants to get his friends back. So he forcefully drags Steven back home from a veteran hospital and returns to Vietnam in order to find Nick. But Nick is so out of this world he constantly plays Russian roulette for high stakes and doesn't even recognize Mike anymore...

If there's one thing this film really nails, it's the sense of trauma inflicted upon these three friends. Everyone is changed and usually not for the better. Cimino also nails how weird it is to return home and find that people still are the same, but you yourself are now vastly different and things seem askew. It is not really explicitly done, but more through subtle actions and occurances. 

The performances are pretty spot on and especially DeNiro, Walken and Streep are bloody brilliant. The rest of the cast is okay, but sometimes they just don't feel that relatable. It's tough to understand why they hang out with John Cazale's character as he's a total arsehat, but every group of friends has that one person, I guess?

The cinematography is also on point, as the town feels like a grey and dull affair and it just looks as though life grinds to a halt and people are merely going through the motions. This also translates to the pacing, as events in Pennsylvania crawl whereas things happening in Vietnam are much quicker and more energetic. Unfortunately, this also means that the first third of the film really drags. See, this film is roughly three hours long, but it could easily have been cut down to two and still be excellent. There's no reason why the marriage ceremony between Steven and Angela is shown almost in full, or why the party takes so much of the runtime. You could argue it is to set up the contrast between 'before Vietnam' and 'after', but honestly? It could have been trimmed down. 

Nevertheless, this is still a great film about traumatizing events and a starmaking performance by Christopher Walken. De Niro might be the heart and soul of this story, but Walken is the standout. 

Recommended.