THE DEER HUNTER (1978) **** The greatness that America claimed to be pursuing militarily in Vietnam was instead attained by talented young directors shining light on the abject hypocrisy involved. Perhaps the most intense film in cinematic history. The metaphors are powerful, and suitably subterranean for metaphor digger hounds, but when the drama is this heightened, the story so good, and the characters so brilliantly depicted metaphors are a bit extraneous. Meryl Streep is perfect, there's no one else who could portray a character at once so vulnerable and so strong, you just want to take her and hold her, she emotes so much character that it literally appears to be physical beauty to non-cerebral guys. This is the movie where Christopher Walken became Christopher Walken, somewhere in the second act. John Cazale is much more effective here as a bowling alley casanova than he was as Freddie in the Godfather II. Robert De Niro's also in it...playing impossible hybrid macho-sensitive scenes that would have you in the aisles laughing at any other actor. Here, you just want to hug him too, or better yet have Streep do so. Through the brilliant, horribly depicted war massacre of children scenes, grown men forced to play Russian roulette, prostitutes with their baby in the workroom, returning invalids that we knew as exuberant young men, through the blood and gore and hatred and waste and manipulation and extravagant disregard for humanity...somehow Michael Cimino highlights Joe Strnad as particularly grotesque with a flawless cameo as a bingo counter throwing out monotone free association including validation at a Veteran's Administration hospital. See, that's the problem with not livin' in Berkeley where there are educated people to tell you not to go. Fuckin A.
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