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The Brief

War as Russian roulette. The Deer Hunter, Michael Cimino’s epic from 1978, was highly controversial upon its release. During its screening at the Berlin International Film Festival, the entire Eastern European delegation walked out in protest against what they saw as the film’s demeaning portrayal of Vietnamese people. Yet, at its core, this is not primarily a political film; rather, it is a story about friendship and human судьбы. The 1960s are drawing to a close. Friends Mike, Steve, and Nick are about to leave their jobs at a steel mill in the industrial town of Clairton, Pennsylvania. They are heading to Vietnam. The Deer Hunter is a Vietnam War film without overt political messaging. Instead, it focuses on its characters - not as soldiers, but as emotional individuals. Still, the Vietnam War remains a central theme, more so than in many contemporary films of the time, which often used the war merely as a backdrop for other narratives. Cimino aims to present a realistic counterpoint to the romantic notion of war as the ultimate test of manhood. Here, masculinity is closely tied to alcohol, firearms, and hunting. Through psychologically convincing portrayals, we follow Mike as he undergoes his own trial, confronting his ideals and identity. This raw and unflinching depiction of war is also reflected stylistically. The Vietnam sequences are marked by faster editing and tighter framing, giving the images a harsher, almost documentary-like quality - echoing the immediacy of television news reports. War is reduced to its most basic unit: lives abruptly and senselessly lost. The film’s famous Russian roulette scenes serve as its central metaphor. In them, Cimino distills a prevailing view of America’s military involvement in Vietnam into a single, haunting image: the soldier engaged in a mad game, pulling the trigger on himself. Good to know: * Language: English * Subtitles: None * Age limit: 18+