Blog#10: DH-RGV

As a "coming home" film, The Deer Hunter attempts to illustrate several of the ways in which the Vietnam War affected the soldiers who fought in it. In order to do this, the film must identify specific changes that the film's characters underwent because of their service. These changes are made evident because of the contrast that is presented through the dedication of the first hour of the movie to the pre-war home lives of the main characters, Michael, Steven, and Nick. Without the background information given to the audience about the lives of the main characters before the war, it is more difficult to notice the disparities in each character's emotional, physical, and mental well being after the war.

The content of the first hour of the film generally consists of scenes full of celebration and happiness. The movie begins in a factory, the work place of the main characters, and shows the three men leaving work and driving to a bar. The friends drive together in one car, and they engage in a playful, but dangerous, interaction with a large truck when they pass it on a narrow road with little room. They reach the bar safely and end their day by drinking and playing pool. The men encounter a green beret who has returned from his tour of duty in Vietnam. They ask him what it was like, but he simply replies, "Fuck it." The three friends cannot possibly understand what the soldier means by his statement and why he has said it; they laugh the comment off and return to the festivities of their night. The rest of the first portion of The Deer Hunter is composed of the celebration of Steven's wedding and the subsequent hunting trip that is taken by Steven and his friends. Michael, Steven, and Nick maintained average lives consisting of jobs, love, and general happiness.

Through their individual and collective experiences of the war, the three best friends are considerably changed by the hell of war. They witness horrific acts such as the destruction of a family of innocent women and children by way of a Vietnamese grenade, and they also partake in their own share of savagery as seen by one of their use of a flamethrower on a Vietnamese soldier. Amongst all their experiences with the Vietnam War, the three men are most affected by their time as prisoners of war in tiger cages submerged partially in water. During their time as POWs, they engage in a game of Russian roulette ran by their captives that does not end until one of its participants shoots himself in the head. Steven narrowly survives his turn at the game because his gun shot only grazes his head, but he is subsequently forced into an almost fully submerged cage in an effort to drown him. Nick and Michael are pitted against each other in Russian roulette, and they devise a plan to kill their captives and escape to safety. The two men play the game with three bullets instead of one, and after successfully firing three empty chambers, they shoot their armed guards and rescue Steven. They float down the river on which the Vietnamese camp was situated and spot an American helicopter. Nick is rescued by the helicopter, but the other two must remain the river where Steven shatters both his legs.

The final segment of the film establishes its message as anti-war because of its frequent portrayal of the negative byproducts of the war. Steven is severely physically disabled and, therefore, cannot live the life he was accustomed to prior to shipping off. Michael is plagued by his traumatizing Russian roulette experience and can no longer function at the same mental or emotional level he was used to. Nick remained in Vietnam for a short time due to his addiction to drugs, alcohol, and Russian roulette. Michael tries to bring him back to Pennsylvania, but Nick dies when the two have to compete in the same game to which they were introduced as prisoners of war. By the conclusion of the movie, it is clear that the main characters have undergone transformations into people similar to the green beret in the bar. They originally didn't understand the green beret and couldn't relate to him or what he was saying, but upon coming home, the men have become different people that cannot simply fall back into their old ways.