Voyage au bout de l'enfer

One of the first films to employ the subject of Vietnam War into its premise, The Deer Hunter tells the story of three young factory workers in Pennsylvania who enlist into the army to fight the ongoing war in Vietnam, only to discover that war isn't a noble venture they imagined but a hellish chaos which in the end, completely changes their entire personalities.

The film is a three act feature in which the first act introduces its three primary characters, their friendships, the women they're in love with & their perspectives on life. The second act is set in Vietnam & covers the brutality they undergo there. And the final act depicts the massive change war has brought into not just their lives but also the society they are part of as a whole.

Michael Cimino's direction is good in parts, camera-work & music are also a plus and the strong cast of Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale, Meryl Streep & others do chip in with sincere performances but compared to the reputation & acclaim this film has enjoyed over the years, the experience of sitting through this snail-paced war drama didn't turn out to be even remotely satisfying.

The Deer Hunter isn't really a war film but a tragic drama that aims to portray the personality change something as gruesome as war can bring in not just those who serve in it but an entire community which I actually appreciate but for the majority of its runtime, this film is a pain to sit through. The film is over three hours long which is strongly felt & filled with characters who are not that interesting anyway.

It opens with a wedding sequence which, for a while, felt like will go on forever. The second act is set in Vietnam is the only part that had my attention & the Russian roulette scene is easily the film's best moment for it is extremely intense & brilliantly filmed. The final act is a disappointment again where we are supposed to draw a comparison with the first act & that's all there is to this feature.

On an overall scale, there are moments of brilliance within the film yet for the most part, The Deer Hunter remains an underwhelming cinematic experience that's awfully boring, is far too long, presents a one-sided view of war, requires its audience to suspend disbelief greatly and, in my humble opinion which you don't have to agree with, is one of the most overrated films ever made.

Eight stars. The seeds of Cimino's downfall were sown in his greatest triumph.

His Heaven's Gate was the disaster that ended the Hollywood auteur era of the 60s and 70s. And one needs look no further than the first act of The Deer Hunter to see why. Maybe Cimino thought he really needed three one-hour acts for some sort of symmetry. I don't know. What I do know is that act one was about twice as long as it had any business being. It dragged. Painfully so.

Now, once we leave Clairton for Vietnam, the film elevates to brilliance. Acts two and three are masterful. Cimino's work here is glorious. And the acting is splendid from the first scene onward. DeNiro and Walken get most of the cred, but Streep and Cazale are both monumental here. Savage and Dzundza also turn in splendid performances. Dzundza's is the easiest to overlook, just as Savage's is the easiest to discount. But his work is needed for the whole tragic tale to hang together. Nick and Steve are both shattered by their experiences. And, for all his love and effort, Mike really can't save them.

This is a great film. If Cimino had cut half an hour from act one, it would be a transcendant one. 14 August 2023.

The Deer Hunter (1978)

**** (out of 4)

Michael Cimino's masterpiece about three friend (Robert DeNiro, John Savage, Christopher Walken) whose lives we see before, during and after the Vietnam war.

THE DEER HUNTER ended up winning five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor for Walken. The film was a hit at the box office and won all sorts of critical acclaim but I still think the film is quite underrated as it's one of the most draining and emotional films ever made. It's certainly not a fun or pleasant movie to watch but there's no question that Cimino made something incredibly powerful and at times shocking.

The film might have been praised but some threw a lot of criticism at it including some of the Vietnam scenes dealing with the Russian roulette. Many have said that the most powerful scenes in the movie were nothing more than a work of fiction but I find this to be a rather silly complaint because this was a movie and not a documentary. These scenes are some of the most powerful moments in film history so to say the film would have been better off without them is rather stupid. The scenes in Vietnam with the solders being forced to play against one another are among the most intense scenes you will ever see.

Another bit of criticism is aimed at Cimino and his decision to make the wedding sequence last for fifty-two minutes. Personally speaking, I think this was a great decision and the other two-thirds of the film wouldn't have been as powerful without such a long opening. Not only do we get to know all of the characters involved but a lot of the stuff that happens here pays off later in the movie. One of the most powerful and telling scenes deals with a soldier who comes to drink at the bar and is confronted by DeNiro. I'm obviously not going to spoil anything but this plays an important part later in the picture on the mental state of his character.

Speaking of DeNiro, he once again delivers a marvelous performance and especially since he's the main character in the movie and must play so many different emotions. The actor perfectly nails the character and really brings a lot of heart and soul to the picture. The ensemble cast really does a remarkable job here with Meryl Streep showing what greatness was to come with her. Walken deserved his Oscar for his heartbreaking performance. Savage, George Dzundza, Chuck Aspegren and John Cazale are all equally wonderful as well.

Technically speaking the film is quite flawless with some masterful cinematography from Vilmos Zsigmond as well as a haunting and incredibly moving score by Stanley Myers. THE DEER HUNTER is without question one of the most depressing and emotionally draining movies that you'll ever see but it's also a masterpiece and one of the greatest films ever created.

"The Deer Hunter" is not a film about the Vietnam war, as it is wrongly said in many cases.

"The Deer Hunter" is a film tells the story of 3 friends within about 5-6 years, during which their friendship is repeatedly put to the test.

It is primarily a picture of the contemporary life of a group of people around 30 living in a small American town during the Vietnam war.

The first hour of the film portrays the every day life of three friends Mike (De Niro), Steven (Savage) and Nick (Walken), who look forward to Steve's wedding but at the same time have to prepare for their commitment in Vietnam. The main actors (above all De Niro and Walken) perfectly picture the character's inner conflict between their easygoing home town life and the forthcoming assignment in Vietnam. Despite this conflict the characters don't show their concerns to their environment.

Particularly Nick is worried about him and his friends leaving his home town and perhaps never coming back, but he only tells his best friend Mike of his thoughts, who is much more resolute and sees their engagement as a strong masculine act.

Cimino manages to show the simple irrationality of young men, going to a senseless war from which they might never return for the only purpose of glory and approval, and abandoning their settled and happy life for it. The spectator just can't understand why those young men voluntarily sign for the army and give up everything they have. The passage from the small-town-idyll to the war cruelty is greatly pictured. Cimino does not show the three friends' way to Vietnam or the training, he immediately switches from a happy get-together to the cruel war captivity of the Vietcong. This passage perfectly underlines the contrast and the inexplicability of the three men's actions.

Although the passage that is set in Vietnam is only about one third of the whole film long, the war is omnipresent at any time, which is probably the best benefit of the whole film, Cimino does not need to bomb the spectator with pictures of crying children, mutilated soldiers or desert battlefields in order to illustrate the cruelty of war. Far from it! The changed behavior of all characters after the friends' returns tell more about wars' capability of changing someone's life, than anything else.

And the fact that the many dreams that these three friends had before they went to Vietnam didn't come true, because of their longing for recognition by becoming an acclaimed veteran can even pluck your heartstrings.

Cimino's great directing and the cast's awesome acting provide for a touching and honest drama about the friendship of a group of young men, that is destroyed by the Vietnam war.

Nothing prepares us for a life in the so called modern world but we partake in the traditions passed on to us through family, friends and colleagues, at home, out socialising and in the workplace. It's called culture and, for the most part, it keeps us safe and secure, as the bonds we develop make us feel a part of the fabric but it's still psychologically a challenge to the hunter gatherers mind - increasingly so today.

Put that mind into war, battles, conflict, abuse, threat and it's anyone's guess what might result. Put that mind into the events portrayed here, albeit quite extreme, and you have the basis for a fascinating insight into the cultural and social destruction that conflict can reap through individuals, as well as entire populations, and continue to do so long after the truce has been declared.

Mix into the portrayal some of the finest actors of their generation, perhaps of all time, and you have a genuinely timeless anti-war reflection that, in itself, should be enough to dissuade the most sabre rattling politico, who genuinely cares about their citizens, to put their swords away and resolve any differences peacefully. Unfortunately, recent history suggests otherwise.