The Deer Hunter (1978)

Must watch

You can hardly find a three hour long English movie.Its so long that it takes time to settle to what it is intended towards.The deer Hunter is one of the emotional and scintillating record of effects of war to a common man.The movie goes as three stages.The first stage inPenisylavania with some Russians celebrating partying after their hard days work.There is a long marriage party which sings along its way and the friends go for hunting deer .Three among the group had to be in Vietnam war after the Hunt.Till the second stage in Vietnam I was thinking there is some thing in the story based on hunting.The second stage spreads around so brutally and in a savage manner which rips you out of the first one hour.

Michael "Mike" Vronsky(Robert De Niero),Nikonar "Nick" Chevotarevich(Christopher walken),Steven Pushkov(John savage) gets trapped in the Vietnam extremists and been forced to play Russian roulette against each other for the gambling amusement of their captors.Three escape from the prison by some tactical drama but get separated on the way to hostage camp.The third stage is back home when Mike returns from Vietnam.The story goes along with Mike meeting Nicky at the end amidst the gamblers playing Russian Roulette.Michael Cimino presents the case of Friendship ,agony and pain before us through an emotional finish.

(Russian roulette is a lethal form of gambling in which participants place a single round in a chamber of a revolver and, spinning the cylinder such that the location of the round is unknown, take turns putting the weapon to their temples (heads) and pulling the trigger until the weapon discharges, killing the user.

The movie starts with a marriage and ends with a funeral.The movie has got a enormous bunch of plays which define each moment.The marriage scene in the beginning was prolonged for an hour to show the moments of happiness ,But how a unprecedented How a unprecedented joy can be shattered by political ordeal .Vietnam war had probably many untold stories and epics to say .This is one among it ,This is not about the war,This is not a political movie.But this movie speaks on the human relations which gets ruined because of war.Director Michael Cimino touches ornately on Friendship ,love ,family values ,he cleverly does not gives a much of his camera to Vietnam sage ,which could have made this a War movie. I guess the sound effects in this movie should be a perfect piece of example to how live sounds should be recorded on the shooting sets, Its so real that some times you can feel you are in the Gambling spot. Twenty two years later also our Tamil cinema was not able to capture the magic in HeyRam .

Robert De Niero carries the pain ,pride and the pristine look of a warrior in the movie through out .He relentlessly requests with Christopher Walken to come home during the final scene which emotionally disturbs you .Pain in the head due to Routtle gives you compelling pain in the heart when you visualize it. This movie is a triumph of how blue color workers became war heroes in Vietnam War. The movie ends with Nicks Funeral when one of the friends begins to sing"God Bless America." All join in this spontaneous act With their faces and cracked voices longing for hope .I do end it with Peace. No wars again .

Edited :7/8/07