PAB BLOG 10

The film The Deer Hunter is an anti-war “coming home” film starring Robert Deniro, Christopher Walken, and John Cazale. These three men are introduced (in the late 1960s) as three close friends who live in a small working-class town. They spend their time hunting, drinking, and enjoying each other’s friendship. At Steven and Angela’s wedding reception, a Green Beret is spotted. He is asked about his war exploits but responds with a simple “fuck it”. Everyone is amazed, and they all toast to the Beret’s “Fuck it”. This toasting could be considered foreshadowing because everyone at the wedding is amazed by the Green Beret’s attitude, yet they are completely ignorant as to what he has truly gone through. They toast to their ignorance. In another toast, Angela unknowingly spills a drop of red wine on her dress. This red wine represents blood that is being shed that they are all ignorant off, and it foreshadows the tragedies of war that are about to befall the main characters (spilling wine during a toast is also considered a sign of bad luck).
Later in the film, the three main characters are in-country in Vietnam. They all end up becoming captured and held by the same captors. These captors force the men to play Russian roulette. They bet on the outcome. When it is Steven’s turn to shoot, he aims above his head and shoots. The bullet does not kill him, so he is sent into an underwater cage for punishment. The other two men kill their captors and save Steven. As they float away downstream, they are rescued by an American helicopter. The only one to make it on the helicopter is Nick. The result of this entire affair is that Steven suffers from broken legs and a head injury, and Nick suffers from psychological damage. Mike returns home and worries about his friends.
When Mike returns home, he chooses to go deer hunting again. Before he went to Vietnam, he successfully shot a deer with a single shot and was proud of it. At that point in time he was enthusiastic about killing. During his first hunting trip after the war, he finds himself in a similar situation; he has a deer in his crosshair, but instead of killing the deer with a single shot he purposefully misses. After he misses he yells “OK?”. His yell echoes back to him symbolizing his internal struggles with losing his two friends to the war in Vietnam. It is obvious that the War has changed his views about violence and guns; he even yells at his friend for waving around a loaded revolver.
Eventually, Mike finds Angela who is mute and unresponsive. She gives him the phone number to the hospital where his friend Steven has been staying. When he finds him, Steven is paralyzed. He then finds his way to Nick, who has been gambling with his life by playing Russian roulette. In his attempt to bring him home, Mike enters into a contest against him. At this point, both of these men value their old ways of living and friendships over their lives. Mike reminds Nick about hunting, and Nick suddenly appears like his old self again, but since they were still in a game of Russian roulette, Nick shoots himself and dies.
What makes this an anti-war film is the symbolism. Russian roulette seems like an incredibly reckless game to play, but it represents a soldier’s life in war. If a soldier is drafted, they will essentially be playing Russian roulette; luck will determine whether or not they make it out alive. Nick finally remembered how he wanted to go hunting with his friend Mike, but an unlucky coincidence of the bullet being in the chamber at that time led to his death. At his funeral, “God Bless America” is sung. Clearly this song is placed ironically. America entered a war that Mike participated in. This war caused so much mental trauma that he killed himself. Not only does the singing of this song appear anti-war, to some extent it is anti-American.