Evan D. As a project this year we are taking a trip through time to revisit all of the Best Picture winners in history, Wings to Anora. The Deer Hunter is the fifty-first film in that series, to see all the other Best Picture reviews, click here. American involvement in the Vietnam War clearly initiated a massive cultural upheaval. The protest movement against the war seeped into music, fashion and even the conception of American patriotism. Television cameras brought the conflict into living rooms across the country. Soldiers and their families coming back from the incomprehensible and psychologically damaging bloodshed brought about a new conception of the returning war hero. For the first time war films painted American aims under scrutiny, not just criticizing war generally, but specifically the nation’s role. The Deer Hunter was one of the very first Vietnam War films to examine how that conflict ripped apart a generation of American soldiers. Directed by Michael Cimino, The Deer Hunter is a mammoth of a film divided into three acts. The first is a lengthy introduction to our protagonists; Michael (Robert DeNiro,) Nick (Christopher Walken,) and Steven (John Savage.) All three boys are Russian-American steelworkers in rural Pennsylvania, childhood friends who have enlisted in the army together. We meet them on the day of Steven’s wedding to his pregnant fiancé. Although all three are close, Mike and Nick are best friends, living together and both in love with Linda (Meryl Streep in one of her earliest roles.) Steven’s wedding and reception stretch out over almost an hour of screen time but in the process we learn all about the characters. Mike is something of a leader to the group, calculating and aloof. Nick is carefree and erratic although clearly caring for Linda. Steven is something of the little brother of the group, seemingly swept up in the tides. Then we see the boys off to war in Vietnam. Gorgeously shot in rural Thailand, the second act is a, frankly baffling, depiction of the horrors of war. Very little combat is shown, instead focusing almost exclusively on the leads being captured by the Vietcong and forced into a sadistic game of Russian roulette that breaks the psyches of each soldier. All of this culminates in a final act contrasting the lighthearted geniality of the first act against the new reality of life after the war. Of course, The Deer Hunter is far from the first film to depict the camaraderie of service and intense toll of war on the boys who fight it. The Best Years of Our Lives mined similar terrain on its way to Best Picture as well. But Camino’s war epic brought a certain intensity and darkness to formula in a film that is far more critical of the actual war itself. The invention of Russian roulette as a form or torture employed by the Vietcong has no actual basis in historical record but does serve as an interesting allegory for the senselessness, violence and the seemingly random fortune distinguishing those who survived from their fellow fallen soldiers. Even so, the scenes in Vietnam end up being the weakest of the film in terms of coherent storytelling. The deliberate drama contrasting life in this small mill town before and after the war ripped apart three of its native sons is quite compelling. DeNiro is fantastic in a nuanced performance during those bookend acts but drifts into somewhat unhinged territory for the middle section in a way that struggles to bridge where his character starts and finishes. Christopher Walken stands out as well, perhaps more than anyone else in portraying a war induced descent into madness. The highs are tremendously high in The Deer Hunter and the lows equally low. Scenes of the boys on their hunting trips are stunning and beautifully shot. The final half hour is a genuinely moving experience that culminates in an ending that plays both melancholic and hopeful. But those Vietnam scenes and the overall weight of the three hour runtime become a major drag. The depiction of the Vietnamese characters is one note and often cruel. A film with apparent faults, The Deer Hunter also pioneered a new sort of anti-war film. In the coming years Hollywood would see a number of productions openly questioning the American military aims and much of that is owed to the tremendous success of The Deer Hunter. Certainly an uneven film, nonetheless its moments of greatness are enough to overcome its shortfalls. 8/10
Comments
|