THE DEER HUNTER

I've been watching a lot of movies lately. They've almost all been exclusively forgettable, but I was pretty impressed with The Deer Hunter.

It had been on my must-see list for years and I finally got around to seeing it. Placing it in historical context and doing some internet research made it that much more interesting.

I loved the first few segments where the guys are at the wedding and hunting before being shipped off to Vietnam. Sure, Robert DeNiro looks like he should have surpassed the draft age limit, but we all suspend a little reality when watching a movie. The scenes reminded me a lot of my hometown and in some ways, it still does. Lots of young guys got plucked from these Rust Belt towns and thrown into hell during 'Nam.

The Russian Roullette scenes were captivating. There was great criticism in that the Northern Vietnamese never did this sort of thing with POWs. Northern Vietnamese took exception to their portrayal as sadistic, evil people without a redeeming quality. Later, there appeared to be some anecdotal evidence out of Singapore that there may have been an isolated instance where such a scenario did play out in the real war, but why all the fuss?

When you make a war movie, it's obviously serious business. I respect and understand any veterans insistence that a movie accurately reflect to the best of its ability how things truly were in the war. I have Uncles who can't be objective when watching war movies about wars they were in once they see what to them is such blatant fiction.

But to me, real or not, the scenes were stunning. It's one of those movie moments that leaves an imprint. The metaphor being played out with the Russian Roullette scenes is pretty obvious, but no less powerful for it's harsh transparency.

I also read that there were criticisms at the time that it was unfair to the USA. With the benefit of hindsight, this can be chalked up as the usual drum-beating hyper-patriotic bullshit. The Deer Hunter didn't glorify something that didn't deserve glorification. It was a war movie about the soldiers in the war, not about the politics or rights or wrongs. Such a movie these days would barely cause a stir in this regard and many more have been made that put the "enemy" in a far more neutral light (sometimes even a sympathetic one).

Anyways, this is one of those movies that always seems to hover around the 50s - 70s in the Top 100 Movies of All-Time list. I've seen plenty of the ones typically ahead of it and I'd say The Deer Hunter isn't getting a fair shake being that far down those lists. I'd put it Top 20.