The first hour of the film The Deer Hunter depicts the lives of a group of men from a small town in Pennsylvania. The film depicts the lives of the three men who go to Vietnam: Mike, Nick and Steven. Almost the entire first hour is devoted to the wedding of Angela and Steven, and shows the relationships that each of the men have for each other, the women in their life, and what they consider to be a good time- drinking and dancing. Before they go to war, Nick says to Mike, “Just don’t leave me over there,” talking about the upcoming tour in Vietnam. This clearly shows the vulnerability of young soldiers and how they were terrified to fight for a war they knew very little or nothing of.
The film, as a whole, symbolizes the change in the soldiers that the war forces upon them. The repetitive occurrence of the game of Russian roulette that the three men all engages in is a symbolization of the American soldier’s attitude that luck is the only thing that could keep them alive in Vietnam; no amount of skill had anything to do with their lives being spared, just sheer luck. Also, the fact that Nick never returned to the United States and kept playing Russian roulette symbolizes the thrill of the war, and how some people became so consumed with it, that they simply could not escape from it.
Returning home after the war, all of the men have trouble adjusting back to the way their life used to be. The beginning of the film relates to the rest of the film because it shows the contrast of their lives before and after the war. Before the war, Mike had killed a deer while hunting with all of his friends after Steven’s wedding, and this parallels to his experience in the war, killing the Vietnamese as if they were deer; killing a human didn’t faze him. Steven returned from Vietnam, but had to have his legs amputated. Steven left his family and friends because he just couldn’t deal with the pain and suffering he went through during the war. Not only did this affect Steven, but Angela became severely depressed, as shown when she couldn’t even tell Mike the hospital where Steven was. This depicted that not only the soldiers of the war were affected by the war, but the families and friends of the soldiers suffered.
This film is anti-war in the sense that it describes the lives of those who served in Vietnam and that it negatively it impacted them. The idea you have about a “coming home” film is exuberant; however, this “coming home” film depicted the horror and heartache of war and how it changes innocent people.
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The first hour of the film The Deer Hunter depicts the lives of a group of men from a small town in Pennsylvania. The film depicts the lives of the three men who go to Vietnam: Mike, Nick and Steven. Almost the entire first hour is devoted to the wedding of Angela and Steven, and shows the relationships that each of the men have for each other, the women in their life, and what they consider to be a good time- drinking and dancing. At the wedding, the men see a Green Beret at the bar. When they asked the man what the war was like, he replied, “fuck it”. This is foreshadowing the eventual change of these men into the Green Beret and having the war ruin their lives. Before they go to war, Nick says to Mike, “Just don’t leave me over there,” talking about the upcoming tour in Vietnam. This clearly shows the vulnerability of young soldiers and how they were terrified to fight for a war they knew very little or nothing of, and also that these men viewed the war as an unknown adventure.
ReplyDeleteThe film, as a whole, symbolizes the change in the soldiers that the war forces upon them. The repetitive occurrence of the game of Russian roulette that the three men all engages in is a symbolization of the American soldier’s attitude that luck is the only thing that could keep them alive in Vietnam; no amount of skill had anything to do with their lives being spared, just sheer luck. Also, the fact that Nick never returned to the United States and kept playing Russian roulette symbolizes the thrill of the war, and how some people became so consumed with it, that they simply could not escape from it. The recurring theme of Russian roulette could also symbolize randomness in war, and what happened in Vietnam was a series of random acts with no reasoning.
Returning home after the war, all of the men have trouble adjusting back to the way their life used to be. The beginning of the film relates to the rest of the film because it shows the contrast of their lives before and after the war. Before the war, Mike had killed a deer while hunting with all of his friends after Steven’s wedding, and this parallels to his experience in the war, killing the Vietnamese as if they were deer; killing a human didn’t faze him. After the war, Mike does deer hunting alone and cannot shoot a deer. The deer is representing the Vietnamese people, caught at the wrong place at the wrong time. Also, when Mike came home from the war, he asked the cab driver to drive him to his house instead of his coming home party because he just couldn’t face his friends yet. Steven returned from Vietnam, but had to have his legs amputated. Steven left his family and friends because he just couldn’t deal with the pain and suffering he went through during the war. Not only did this affect Steven, but Angela became severely depressed, as shown when she couldn’t even tell Mike the hospital where Steven was. This depicted that not only the soldiers of the war were affected by the war, but the families and friends of the soldiers suffered.
The end of the film, ‘God Bless America’ is dismally sung at a funeral service for Nick. The singing of this song is ironic; it is merely protocol at a funeral for a soldier. It was sung because they didn’t know what else to do. This shows the film’s anti-war message.
This film is anti-war in the sense that it describes the lives of those who served in Vietnam and that it negatively it impacted them. The idea you have about a “coming home” film is exuberant; however, this “coming home” film depicted the horror and heartache of war and how it changes innocent people. It impacted not only the soldiers, but their family members and friends back in America. This film showed no positive aspect of the war, and it depicted how it ruined the lives of these three men, which can be universalized to all of the soldiers who fought in the war.