The Deer Hunter story
The Deer Hunter is a 1978 American epic war drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Russian-American steelworkers whose lives are upended by fighting in the Vietnam War. The soldiers are played by Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and John Savage, with John Cazale (in his final role), Meryl Streep, and George Dzundza in supporting roles. The story takes place in Clairton, Pennsylvania (a working-class town on the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh) and in Vietnam.
25 total · 4 choice · 12 major · 9 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| coping with post-traumatic stress | choice | Each of the three friends Mike, Nick, and Steven dealt with in different ways the trauma inflicted on them while fighting in Vietnam. Mike kept himself together but returned to his hometown with a new respect for life, as demonstrated by his showing mercy on a deer that he could well have shot dead. Nick descended into utter madness. Steven, who'd lost both legs, retreated from his family and fell into depression. |
| courage in the face of death | choice | Russian roulette is the recurring central motif the film is best known for. It was first played as a form of torture: players must either take the risk of shooting themselves in the head, or be subjected to a slow torturous death. Later it was played for money by desperate men in Saigon. It was also played by Mike and Nick in outbursts of despair and nihilism when they pulled the trigger (on themselves or others) to prove a point that can be interpreted variously as being about courage, fatalism, or the meaningless of life. |
| reintegrating into society | choice | The film is a commentary on the devastating toll war can take on humans and their communities. The central event was that three American soldiers were tortured by North Vietnamese partisans. Mike fared the best but hid in a motel to avoid his friends from time to time. Steven had lost both legs and the use of his left arm, and was staying in an army hospital because he couldn't face his family and old friends. Nick refused to return altogether and instead went deep into the murky Saigon underworld to become a famed Russian roulette player know as "The American". |
| the horrors of war | choice | The story is a commentary of the Vietnam War, depicting it as inhumane and chaotic. The central event was that three American soldiers were tortured by North Vietnamese partisans. After the war, each of the three characters were broken or mentally scarred: Mike fared the best but hid in a motel to avoid his friends from time to time. Steven had lost both legs and the use of his left arm, and was staying in an army hospital because he couldn't face his family and old friends. Nick refused to return altogether and instead went deep into the murky Saigon underworld to become a famed Russian roulette player know as "The American". |
| choosing between equally unappealing possibilities | major | Russian roulette was a central feature of the story. In particular, Mike, Nick and Steven had to play it while in captivity in Vietnam: if they refused to play they would be thrown into a rat infested cage submerged in the water and left to die. The rest of the story concerns how these three characters coped with this horrible experience. |
| descent into madness | major | Nick progressively lost his mind after escaping from a brutal captivity under the Viet Cong. By the time Mike had tracked him down, Nick was essentially nonverbal and playing in an underground Russian roulette league. |
| friendship | major | The story concerns the tight-knit friends Mike, Steven and Nick. |
| human vs. captivity | major | The three friends Mike, Nick, and Steven escaped their captivity by a group of Viet Cong in dramatic fashion. The rest of the story concerns how these three characters coped with this horrible experience. |
| hunting | major | Deer hunting, as the title suggests, is used as a metaphor in the film. Mike, Steven, and Nick together with Stan, Axel and John, went deer hunting in the mountains. Notably, before fighting in Vietnam Mike shot a deer without compunction, but after returning he couldn't bring himself to kill one. |
| love triangle | major | Nick and Linda were engaged to be married when Nick went to Vietnam never to come back. Mike was in love with Linda but suppressed his feelings because of his friendship with Nick. While Nick was AWOL in the murky underworld of Saigon, Mike succumbed to advances by Linda and slept with her in his motel room. |