Blog 10 AZ

The first part of The Deer Hunter takes place in a small town in the middle of the mountains of Pennsylvania. The first scene opens with fire and smoke coming from the manufacturing of the steel plant that the main characters, Michael, Nick, and Steve all work at. We see from the very begining that these guys are all buddies and have a tight friendship amongst themselves. They joke around with eachother and bond over guy stuff like driving fast and hunting. They come from a smaller, pro-American working class, immigrant community and they think that going to Vietnam is going to be an adventure. In a way they are innocent when they hear the Green Beret respond with attitude "Fuck it" to their question about what Vietnam was like.

There are some scenes in the begining that foreshadow the destruction of lives and relationships that the war will cause. For example the hunting trip that they go on before the wedding foreshadows the hunt that they are about to go on in Vietnam. Except in Vietnam, they end up being the victums and are all "hit" in some way. Steve gets crippled, Mike develops serious PTSD, and Nick ends up shooting himself. Another example is during the wedding reception, when a drop of wine is spilt, it symbolizes that the couple will experience some sort of bad luck. This foreshadows the rough relationship that Steven and Angela will have after the war. After becoming crippled, Steven is ashamed and feels as if he is not a man anymore. He refuses to go home from the hospital. This greatly affects Angela, who becomes completely helpless and mute. She couldn't control all the bad things that happened as a result of the war, but speaking was the one thing she had complete control over and she ends up losing that.

This movie is an anti-war film. It represents the war as being this kind of big storm that comes in and ruins everything in it's path. The movie really focuses in on the relationships that are destroyed by the war. It also emphasizes the toll that the war took on communities and people left at home. The game of Russian Roulette that they play throughout the movie represents the randomness and recklessness of the war, and how the war is kind of like a lottery. There is no rhyme or reason for why these horrible things happen. It is all just a series of random acts that no one can justify or predict.
It was also interesting that the movie ended with God Bless America. I think Cimino did this to emphasize the irony of the entire war and how the war really stood for nothing. All the soldiers were fighting because they had no other choice.