The Deer Hunter

Released 27th February 1979, The Deer Hunter focuses on a group of friends torn apart after fighting in the Vietnam war. For a war film, the film decides to take its time before showing the characters’ time in Vietnam. A solid one hour of the three hour runtime is spent with the characters interacting in their industrial town within Pennsylvania. Christopher Walken & John Savage are great as Nick & Steven with Meryl Streep giving a youthful yet mature performance as Linda. However, in what is, in my opinion, Robert De Niro’s best performance put to screen we have the protagonist Michael. In his performance De Niro seamlessly sells every moment of arrogance, loftiness and maturity. Despite his character’s youth, De Niro plays a most often stoic man who is wise but also manages to convey so with conviction and tension.

This film’s ability to establish tension is also something to be admired. Whilst there are only brief, mundane moments of tension in the first act, the second and third act establish extreme feelings of tension through its incorporation of ‘Russian roulette’. Suffice to say that scenes using such a horrific game established a grand sense of unease with the gritty atmosphere and sudden transition from Pennsylvania to Vietnam. By switching locations so quickly, it really sells the effect the war would have had on the soldiers when they realised what they were fighting; a merciless enemy to protect their greatly flawed nation. Amongst the war’s psychological themes there is also the idea of whether the war was worth it with several characters back home neglecting common sense and morals which were life or death to our central three.

This is where the third act comes in; it is slower again, but the experience of the second act is dragged home by the characters as it interjects with Michael’s encounters with everyone. He is even more stoic and even less interactive with his peers, only really connecting with Linda and avoiding his friends. At this point in the film, we see the different effects on our central three who blissfully entered their destination of desolation; from PTSD, drug abuse, psychiatric aid, etc. To quote Mike Massie from GONE WITH THE TWINS: “The Deer Hunter goes in-depth to examine the liveliness of innocence and the tragic, shattering effects that war can impart. The physical toll, while damaging, is monstrously trumped by the mental catastrophes rendered.”

The soundtrack is also strikingly poignant. John Williams performs his usual movie magic by providing graceful melodies for the friends in Pennsylvania; s much as they all but heads they have sincere care for one another. It is only more tragic when you realise that the melodies are heard less and less as they all grow further apart; ripped away from their social bliss. Above all other tracks I can only praise the piece Cavatina so much; it is so elegant yet so sorrowful. Its heavy reliance on strings makes you feel your own heart strings will snap under the pressures of what you are viewing. I feel that is a sufficient summary of the film; it is so beautiful and well crafted that you will almost suffocate at the weight being dropped upon you.