Deer Hunter
Robert De Niro as Mike Christopher Walken as Aunt Nick May as Linda John Savage as Stephen
The film begins in a small town of Americanized Russian immigrants, three young workers working in a steel mill, and close friends Mike, Nick, and Stephen who grew up. At the same time, the three of them received an application notice and would go to Vietnam. A grand wedding was held in the small town for Stephen, who was on the expedition. After the wedding, the young people went to the mountains to hunt deer for the last time. Mike shot a deer. In the next scene, three People have been captured by Vietnamese troops, held in water prisons, and forced to bet on Russian roulette. Nick and Stephen almost collapsed, Mike held on, shot the guard bravely and wisely, and rescued his companions. Stephen fled with a leg injury on his back, but was separated from Nick. Mike handed Stephen over to the U.S. Army and became an officer of the U.S. Special Forces. He was desolate and taciturn and returned to his hometown. Knowing that Nick is missing, Stephen amputated both of his legs and insisted on being admitted to the shelter. When he saw Stephen, and learned that someone had been sending him money from Saigon, Mike guessed that it was Nick. Then back to Vietnam, in the chaos of the retreat of the US military, he searched Saigon to find Nick, but Nick has become mentally ill and has become a perverted, professional roulette player. Not knowing Mike anymore, Mike bet his life on a gamble with Nick, and just when Nick's empty eyes seemed to realize something, his hand mechanically pulled the trigger, and he died. Mike shipped his body back to the United States for burial in his hometown.
To understand the old generation of writers such as Bergman, you must understand World War II, to understand the French New Wave and the Left Bank, you must understand the May storm, or to understand contemporary American culture, you must understand the Vietnam War.
The film adopts a plate structure. The whole film is composed of three relatively independent paragraphs and three core events. There is a large span of time and space between paragraphs. A structural montage effect is formed by the contrast of emotions, events and styling tone between different paragraphs. They are:
· A big Russian-style wedding in a small town, with a white tone, the brides' wedding dresses, and the men's white shirts. And this passage of a beret-wearing U.S. Special Forces officer from the Vietnam front line sets up a piece of discordant color.
The Vietnam battlefield, especially the bamboo buildings and water prisons of the prison camps. The color tone is muddy green and earthy yellow. tropical landscape
· Saigon Roulette, the shape and color tone of the passages are the dark red of fire and the shadows flashing under the turbulent light source, almost apocalyptic retreat and chaotic atmosphere.
As the support point of the structure, the film sets two small plates between the three major plates, that is, the two deer hunting in the green mountains and valleys. As a narrative rhetorical technique, the two deer hunts have a symmetrical repetition. The first is a farewell, the second is a welcome, the same characters, scenes, actions, etc. But the difference is that the first time is full of youthful vitality, and the hometown style and peaceful life have changed. And the second time, Nick is missing from the crowd, the whole scene is Mike's point of view, he is devastated, old and tired, so the same scene is presented as a kind of ruthless and boring. The first time Mike hit the prey, but the second time dropped his gun-wielding hand. As a symmetry, a statement about war and peace, death and life is completed.
The structure of the film creates an emotional jump. After the first deer hunt, the young man plays the piano under the warm candlelight. Suddenly switching from candlelight to battlefield, this jump cut without any transition, gives the audience a direct and strong emotional impact.
This structure allows creators to freely deal with the narrative space and effectively complete the tailoring and selection of narratives. War scenes are omitted, leaving only personal stories. It was a huge commercial success, winning an Academy Award.
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