War Movie Month: The Deer Hunter (1978)

Post traumatic stress disorder is one of the side effects of war that can destroy people's lives (that's not including death, destruction of property and pure terror that are also products of war). Michael Cimino's war drama The Deer Hunter is a film that succinctly looks at the trauma (albeit fictional) that soldiers go through to end up with PTSD.

The movie follows three Russian-American men, Michael (Robert De Niro), Nick (Christopher Walken) and Steve (John Savage), all from the same small West Pennsylvania steel mining town, who go off to fight in the Vietnam War. Whilst there, they are captured and made to play Russian Roulette. They escape and Michael returns to America to find that Steve has been terribly injured and Nick is nowhere to be seen.

Michael feels distant and removed from the town he has come back to. This is something that a lot of soldiers have reported feeling once they return from a warzone. This is nothing compared to how the character of Steven feels. Not only is he mentally scarred from the torture that he went through, but he is ashamed of the injuries that he sustained during the war; the loss of both legs, and refuses to see his wife. Nick becomes so unstable that he is unable to recognise Michael when he finds him in an illegal betting ring where the contestants play Russian Roulette.

One of the most remarkable things about this movie is that it was shot all on location. The small mining community of Clairton is comprised of many mining communities in the US and the Vietnam scenes were shot in Thailand, the first movie to shoot a Vietnam War film in that country. Probably one of the most amazing set pieces is the first act of the film, which is Steve's wedding. This was shot in St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Church using an actual priest. This first act goes for an hour and does an amazing job at setting up the characters.

Robert De Niro is as exceptional as you would think in this movie, being on top of his game in the 70s. But his performance is hardly the most captivating. Christopher Walken winning an Academy Award might seem a strange and humourous idea for modern audiences, especially when all you can picture is his strange and signature style of talking, but back in 1978 he didn't really speak like he does now, well not as much. He gives a haunting performance as Nick (short for Nikonar) and is truly deserving of the award he won. The film features a young Meryl Streep who is nearly unrecognisable and this is John Cazale's (The Godfather, Dog Day Afternoon) final film before succumbing to cancer, which he had during shooting.

Verdict: The Deer Hunter is a long slog of a movie, but is very rewarding in many ways. Fantastic performances from both De Niro and Walken.