Review of The Deer Hunter (1978) by Juan C — 04 Jun 2011

Review circa 2007.

A film I had wanted to ire out for an age. Finally I got around to it and was left a little flummoxed. Cimino is a notorious director who ruined his career with the following film "Heaven's Gate" so I was very curious to see his masterpiece. As I began to watch it I had a flashback to the style he used in Heaven's Gate. It is a somewhat detached style, where sound is less focussed and characters seem to address their environment more than the camera. Sometimes the background noise seems to outstrip what characters say. A lot also goes unsaid and many thoughts are internalised.

Usually I have little problem with film length but this film has Cimino's signature style. The film certainly takes its time. I can understand that it does so for reasons to flesh out the characters and their friendships at the start. In fact the beginning is so similar to the beginning of The Godfather (except longer), where it begins with a wedding and builds from there. Cimino also has this weird thing he does where he has a mid-shot and then zooms slightly to a closer mid-shot. It's kind of bizarre. Zooms tend to be used to concentrate on an important action, but here the zoom reveals little.

That said, the film features one of the great scenes in cinema. The initial roulette scene is shocking and quite horrifying. The way it cuts to this scene is also wonderful. After an hour of build-up in the characters in their home city the audience is shoved straight to a Vietnam trauma. Watching men battle their sanity is quite something and a nice metaphor for the war. De Niro is also at the top of his game and in his prime. Even the great actors only have a certain period in their prime. And a young Walken and Streep are a joy to watch.

But overall I just really don't get it. I guess a lot has to do with when it was released, as some form of commentary on the Vietnam War. But it just didn't resonate.