The Deer Hunter One Of My Favorite Movie

One of my favorite pastimes is watching classic movies like "The Deer Hunter," described as "a critically acclaimed , extraordinarily powerful film which tracks a group of steeworker pals from a Pennsylvania blast furnace to the cool hunting grounds of the Alleghenies to the lethal cauldron of Vietnamn. The Deer Hunter is a searing drama of friendship and courage - and what happens to these qualities under hardship. It is a shattering emotional experience that you will never forget." The film itself received five academy awards in 1978.

After seeing this film for the first time, I wanted to see it again and again. Like any great novel, there are layers of meaning that keep revealing themselves. In a climatic scene, two of the major characters play a game of Russian Roulette. It is a scene I am not likely ever to forget. As I began thinking about this film this afternoon, I made a connection I had not made before. The hero, played by Robert Deniro, early in the film "plays" the game of "one shot" - he wants to shoot a deer with one shot. At the end of the film, he has an opportunity to kill a magnificent deer and he does not follow through even though he would have killed it with one shot. His close friend had killed himself with one shot in the game of Russian Roulette they played. He witnesses how it takes only one shot to destroy life be it human or animal. After he is discharaged, he goes on another hunting trip and he has the opportunity to kill a magnificent deeer with one shot. Instead of taking advantage of this opportunity, he lets the deer get away. His days of killing are over.

The film, which runs for some three hours, is studded with vignettes which point up how the friendship between buddies is effected because of the war. Among it's other messages is how wars brutalizes people. If you haven't seen this film, treat yourself.