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I was thinking about renting this one, as I have never seen it but have always heard that it is a very impressive film. However, I have gotten quite squeemish about violence in my old age , so I was wondering just how violent it actually is. I can actually deal with a good amount of human violence--I was able to watch Goodfellas without a problem, probably b/c the violence isn't gratuitous but integral to the plot--but cannot deal with horror or gore, like Saw or Ghostship.
I'm also not sure I could handle anything in which an animal is harmed(being shot, fine, but anything more than that and I simply cannot watch it).
I think there's only 2 actual deer hunting scenes, and the last one he can't shoot it. Just close your eyes for the other scene, it's not bad. (I feel the same way).
I don't recall any gory scenes at all, it's an excellent movie.
You won't have to deal with any animal's being shot or harmed.
This is a war movie (Vietnam). There is death and physical injury in it but mostly it is about how war can rearrange a soldier's psyche.
It's beautifully made and very emotionally draining to watch. But it is also humorous in parts at the beginning and that relieves some of the stress. The acting is supurb. Walken won an Oscar for his role and well he should have.
I do hope you see it. I love this movie. Just be well armed with kleenex because you will need it.
You won't have to deal with any animal's being shot or harmed.
This is a war movie (Vietnam). There is death and physical injury in it but mostly it is about how war can rearrange a soldier's psyche.
It's beautifully made and very emotionally draining to watch. But it is also humorous in parts at the beginning and that relieves some of the stress. The acting is supurb. Walken won an Oscar for his role and well he should have.
I do hope you see it. I love this movie. Just be well armed with kleenex because you will need it.
When I was a teenager, I just happened to stumble upon it while channel surfing, right during the russian roulette scene. I was about 15 at the time and was like, "WTF is this movie?!" No one had ever told me about it, I knew nothing about the film and could only watch about 1 minute total of the scene before having to change the channel, not only b/c it was so intense but especially b/c I had no idea what led up to it.
I am definitely going to watch it, as I am prepared now for the hard, psychological element. And emotion I can handle well.
On a sort of tangent, one of the reasons why I like films like this is b/c it actually acknowledges and deals with the Vietnam War as a traumatic event in history, something that not every country has done and which, consequently, has been problematic for many cultures. And, interestingly, a lot of works (films, books, etc.) use animals as a metaphor to expurgate the trauma of war, a trope that I find compelling and fascinating.
I have gotten quite squeemish about violence in my old age, so I was wondering just how violent it actually is.
I just watched Platoon for the first time and I have the same problem with watching violence in films now, even though it never bothered me when I was younger. I don't recall The Deer Hunter as being as violent as Platoon but I saw the former when it first came out. I've found that I can no longer watch movies like these at night.
I just watched Platoon for the first time and I have the same problem with watching violence in films now, even though it never bothered me when I was younger. I don't recall The Deer Hunter as being as violent as Platoon but I saw the former when it first came out. I've found that I can no longer watch movies like these at night.
I saw both at the movie theater. I also have VHS and DVD copies of them. I have to watch The Deer Hunter around 4 times a year. Sometimes I become emotionally blocked and The Deer Hunter is what unblocks me. I rarely revisit Platoon. I'm not a Charlie Sheen fan but his acting was exceptional in Platoon. His character was one we can all identify with.
The last scene of The Deer Hunter makes me cry every time I see it and I don't mean simple drops of tears. I mean that I sob (I do cry easily). The music is so beautiful. The faces of those we have learned to care about in the movie (and there are several of them) reflect such sadness and courage in that scene. As I said, it's one of the best I have ever seen and I've seen a lot of movies because I'm a movie addict.
p.s. There is more than one Russian roulette scene in The Deer Hunter. All of them are emotionally devastating because of the nature of the beast.
Sorry for the long post. I get carried away talking about that movie.
My husband is a Viet Nam veteran and he watches very few war movies. One that he will watch is The Deerhunter. It really is an outstanding, powerful movie.
Okay, I just watched it. I had to look away a couple of times, especially at the last Russian roulette scene; that was the one I remember from my teens, and I still couldn't watch it in its entirety.
It really is a great film. The only thing that really got me choked up, though, was knowing that it was John Cazale's last film and that he didn't even ever see the finished film. Very bittersweet considering that his character didn't go to 'Nam. I can't imagine having been Robert DeNiro and Meryl Streep, making that film and knowing that their friend was so sick. I actually cried when he was looking at himself in the window of the car right before the wedding and he says, "Beautiful."
There were lots of things that I loved about the film, namely the refrain of the song, "You're Just Too Good To Be True" and the theme of the DeNiro's character as the deerhunter, the strongest, trying to hold everything together and bring everyone home. I also loved that he couldn't kill the deer the second time: that pretty much says it all, I loved it. In fact, it was a very similar moral to that of Voyage au Bout de la Nuit by Celine, which is about WWII, and that I just finished reading for a French class that illustrated the ironically humanizing effect of war on many soldiers.
I can't believe that anyone ever took issue with the Russian roulette scenes as being "realistic" or villifying the Vietcong. Geez. It was so clearly a metaphor, and a very apt one at that. I was born the year that Vietnam ended but some of my friends' from high school fathers fought in Vietnam, and when they were willing to share stories, that was exactly what it was like: pure luck if you came out alive, a total crapshoot. I think that the film must be really, really important for vets b/c it communicates exactly what the war felt like for them and for their loved ones, emotionally, and that it must have helped by acknowledging and validating the experience so that they could deal with it and try to regain a sense of normalcy (which is what the last scene touches on and why it is so heartbreaking).
I can't watch it, I saw it the first time when it came out and I had nighmares and flashbacks for months. I am of that era, I lost many friends because of that war and I was also working in a VA hospital during that time too....Just can't watch it or Platoon or any other movie about that war.
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, so I was wondering just how violent it actually is. I can actually deal with a good amount of human violence--I was able to watch Goodfellas without a problem, probably b/c the violence isn't gratuitous but integral to the plot--but cannot deal with horror or gore, like Saw or Ghostship. 
