Michael’s life of absolute control is no longer a sure thing, the Divine
Eros of one shot corrupted into a chaotic ugly maxim of pure chance. Director
Michael Cimino camouflages the virtual subtext of homo-eroticism beneath a
mythological journey into war. THE DEER HUNTER isn't a polemic about America’s
involvement in Vietnam: it is tragic love story between Michael and his best
friend Nick.
Here in the heart of blue-collar America, a sextet of men are birthed in
the furnace of steel factories and orthodox religion, Russian Americans who
pledge allegiance to the flag and each other, united under bonds of friendship,
honor and love. Cimino begins the film by introducing the men shrouded in
flames and molten steel, hidden beneath a thick outer shell of protective
clothing. He cuts to the locker room where they undress in chaotic displays of
machismo and sexually charged behavior. The first intelligible words are spoken
by Nick, who cracks wise with a heterosexual pun: Did you hear about the happy
Roman? Answer: Gladiator (or
phonetically: glad-he-ate-her). Stan primps himself in the mirror to no avail
as Nick jokes once again. It soon becomes evident that Michael is the quiet but
headstrong leader of the group as the others defer to him.
Cimino uses a cloistered small town setting to explore unspoken emotional
issues about men as the protagonists become a microcosm of manhood. His camera focuses
upon Michael and Nick often, cutting to close-up, following their furtive
glances and shared expressions. This intimacy between these two cohorts is not
shared by any other character including Linda, the woman who stands between
them (and yet doesn't separate them). Though Nick proposes seemingly
off-the-cuff to Linda at Steven’s wedding, there is no indication that the two
of them have a sexual relationship. Michael and Nick still live together and
are drifting apart as Nick states, “I’m not into One Shot anymore”. He seems to
want something more…but what? I believe the subtext reveals that he wants a
physical relationship with Michael, not the suffering (from his point of view) Platonic
love that has been offered.
This is read by the films editing patterns, showing the two of them close
without showing them together. It’s a subtle message that Cimino offers and one
hidden beneath this aura of righteous brotherhood. Is Michael attracted also to
Linda? Or does he see her as an obstacle? If the latter, it explains his
awkward behavior with her during the wedding sequence. Even Stan, who is rather
homely and judges his own manhood by the women he keeps, calls Michael out of
the closet. Michael responds with a seething anger and the enigmatic, “This is
this”. Well, things are what they are: we don’t always get to decide what we
want to be.
Cimino doesn't seem interested in the complex character of Linda but uses
her to contrast Michael and Nick’s relationship. When Michael returns home she
states quite plainly that she was hoping Nick was along. Both she and Michael
miss Nick dearly and their eventual copulation doesn't bring them closer to
each other…it brings them each closer to Nick’s memory. Cimino also isn't
interested in the politics of Vietnam. He purposely doesn't utilize any overt
imagery or music such as drug use, rock’ n roll, or protests; he even depicts
Michael’s (and even the “Fuck it” Green Beret from the reception) return as
peaceful and accepted (though psychologically damaged). This counterpoint to
counterculture is interesting and purposeful so as not to distract from his
true intentions: Cimino did not set out to make a documentary of the conflict
or an anti-war film. Michael, Nick and Steven even enlist…they aren't drafted. Cimino has created the antithesis to APOCALYPSE NOW. The closest he gets is in the
first Vietnam sequence when a Vietnamese soldier throws a grenade into a dugout
full of women and children. Michael kills him with a flame-thrower for this
needlessly cruel act and the imagery ties in with Clairton and the hellish
steel mills. But even this scene is ambiguous: is the soldier North or South
Vietnamese? Where the US troops defending the village or attacking it? Cimino
doesn't answer and only poses the madding subversive image, and one that
yields different interpretations.
THE DEER HUNTER is not a true film of the Vietnam War nor is it meant to
be. It is allegory and metaphor, utilizing the VC captors as the pressure to
examine the end result of this band of brothers: coal into diamond. If the film
is considered to make a statement about the war, then the enemy is an obscene
stereotype. If however, one considers the film as myth, these dimensionless characters
are treated only a means for the protagonist’s ends. This Russian roulette is a
grim corruption of the beauty of Michael’s one shot: he’s the one who forces
the others to play. They survive the game and Vietnam by pure chance. Steel is
strong but once broken it needs to be re-forged.
Nick is separated from Michael and Steven and stays behind in country.
It’s important to note that Nick never knows what happens to his friends: he’s
whisked away by helicopter while they fall into the murky river, potentially
dead or captured. Cimino doesn't mention this fact directly but infers it
through editing. If Nick believes Michael is dead, why go back home? He cannot
even bring himself to call Linda and hangs up before the connection is made. We
see the same photograph of Linda in both his and Michael’s wallet but to what
purpose? They both love her but for different reasons. Cimino also never
mentions the promise that a naked and drunk Michael swore the night before
their departure to the Army: “Don’t leave me behind Michael. Don’t leave me”,
Nick says. And Michael doesn't leave him.
The final roulette scene is tragic in a few different ways. It’s tragic
on the surface because Nick fails to escape the chaos of Vietnam, the
adrenaline of the game, the addiction to pure chance. In this way Nick is a
victim to circumstances. But the rip-current is strong, the subtext drowning,
as the tragedy is intensified by Michael’s refusal to acknowledge Nick’s
unconditional love for him. Michael begs for him to come home and when Michael
says, “You’re my friend”, Nick spits in his face. Friendship is not enough now.
As Michael puts his own life on the line to prove his devotion it almost works,
but he makes the mistake of mentioning one shot, alluding to an unchanging
future of frustration for Nick. Is this a suicide? Is it Nick saying, “I’ll
show you who is in control”? “Fuck it” indeed.
Michael’s love for Nick is Platonic, a selfish love that helps him
understand the world, make sense of it, to see the beauty in the hunt as
addictive and religious. Nick is the catalyst for this but it seems that Nick
wants more: he wants physical love. So, when Michael returns and Nick is still
lost, he cannot kill the deer. Now it is only suffering and death he sees because
beauty is lost to him. His vision occluded, he must find Nick to find the cure.
This relationship is only heightened by the hell storm of war, and Linda
tiptoes between the two of them, wanting Nick (and never having slept with him)
and being with Michael because it reminds her of Nick.
As the friends finally gather for Nick’s wake, they spontaneously sing
America the Beautiful, to acknowledge their loss, to find something grandeur to
say. I don’t believe this is meant to be ironic or a statement about the war,
any more than the preceding 2+ hours was a statement about the war. It is
merely a spontaneous recital to acknowledge beauty and loss of Nick to whom
they toast. Cimino freezes upon this toast and then cuts to a photograph of
Nick, giving us the pulse of the film before it dies gently into that good
night.
Final Grade: (A+)
