"The Deer Hunter" on blu-ray ~ This is this, it ain't something else, this is this

There are films like 'J. Edgar' and 'The American' which are tediously long. Then there are films like "The Deer Hunter" which are purposely paced slow. There is a big difference between a director that knows what to do with a 3 hour long film…and a director that is just wasting time because he didn't understand what to do with it.

I exchanged a defective "Rebecca" blu-ray for a "The Deer Hunter" (1978) blu-ray. I figured that was right.

I started the blu-ray I had bought of Michael Cimmino's "The Deer Hunter" and a chill went down my spine from the opening note of the overly simplistic film score and the huge title cards, almost designed for those with poor eyesight, as they slowly take their time to get to an opening shot of a working man's factory filled with fire, obviously a precursor to the horrors soon to come of the 'Vietnam War'.

There are 4 film requirements, if you're a man who loves film, "Citizen Kane", "Taxi Driver", "The Godfather", and "The Deer Hunter" and the 2nd greatest of these is . . . "The Deer Hunter" . . . strangely two out of the four have Robert De Niro in them.

It is slowly paced, designed to allow you to suck every nuance and moment from the film as purely and poetically as possible, like an opera about war and friendship. The film craft is impeccable. And the blu-ray is down right a perfect transfer event for 1978 film stock.

The sound in the first half of the film is loud and very realistic. Conversations blend into the background and everything is on a rather grand scale at least in terms of wide shots and sound composition.

Starting the film out much like the Godfather with a wedding solidifying the comrodery of the characters but unlike the Godfather, where each character is given a little moment to shine, the characters in "The Deer Hunter" are all in each moment together, as a unit of long-time friends, comfortable in their company, playing pranks and sharing blissfully ignorant smiles…as the film progresses through and then after the VIetnam War… they will split apart through the tragedy of war that will define them as real men as only a true tragedy can define a man.

This film won Christopher Walken a very deserving Oscar* and yes Mr. "He shoved this watch up his ass". . . Walken…deserved this Oscar ~ he plays no moment for laughs in this film but as a complete honest human-being whose sanity is stripped apart from him.

Robert Di Niro's cool calculated emotions and very human since of self, comrodery and humanity, not to mention his rather fun beard remind me of my Dad's demeanor. That and my Dad taught me how to hunt. This film is not about 'Deer Hunting' it's about surviving a major tragedy with your friends and seeing how far you can bend and how far you'll break underneath a true tragedy.

The film opens with a Wedding which the after-party of feels like a wedding in real-time, it's far too long, but the slow pace of it sets up every one of the characters. Although it's hard not to get swept up in the energy of the dancing and the way it is cut.

The Wedding-After-Party's monotonous dancing is soon broken up by a riveting scene where the boys try to talk to a Green Baret about his experiences 'over their' to which it's clear that the boys have no idea what is in store for them. To which the man takes shot after shot of whisky with his eyes glassed over and says 'fuck it' knowing . . . those kids have no idea what they're in for.

Afterwards the men go hunting with some of the most beautiful outdoor cinematography since "Deliverance" with fog just curling up around the mountains and that ever so graceful animal, a 'deer', being stalked by the camera til it's swiftly shot. This will also not prepare them for Vietnam.

And then Vietnam…to which I won't even stain this review to describing those scenes or basically the famous POW scene where they're forced at gunpoint to play Russian Roulette with each other. That one scene in a 3 hour long film has been talked about enough. And even spoofed in Peter Jackson's X-Rated puppet film "Meet the Feebles". There are other scenes surrounding that scene which are in my opinion equally powerful and worth note but I will spare you me describing them.

The post Vietnam scenes are the ones that truly rip me apart emotionally because I've never seen a film deal with post-traumatic stress in such an unflashy and unflatteringly unattractive way…as it happens in real life…a slow burn.

The post war scenes mimic the previous scenes in a uniquely chilling way which took the film from being obviously a Best Picture to a Timeless Epic that deserves to dwarf films like "Lawrence of Arabia" in the shelves of film history. Yes I legitimately think "The Deer Hunter" is probably one of the 5 best films ever made. It's length and seemingly free sprit in the way it's paced and edited with seemingly 'unimportant scenes' (which truly just give weight to the real set pieces of the film) allow it to linger in your mind longer than any other film I've known into a true emotional catharsis if you're the type of person that isn't disturbed by length or slower pacing.

If Vietnam was hell…coming home wasn't much of an improvement.

This film is a cathartic slowly-paced onslaught of filmic beauty that if I had the length of a novel to describe it couldn't possibly be done in words.

You just need to sit down and watch it and let it wash over you in one full sitting.

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If you've never seen this film, you have no right to call yourself a true understander and lover of film.

Also was this film sponsored by Rolling Rock? No seriously "Have a Rolling Rock, it is the best around" is a line in the the movie and there are full framed shots with Rolling Rock in them. *.*

""The Deer Hunter" . . . is this, it ain't something else, it's this."

Theme by John Williams

Special Makeup Effects by Dick Smith

Cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond

Directed by Michael Cimino

3 Hours 4mins

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