MovieChat Forums > The Deer Hunter (1979) Discussion > Questions and things I didn't fully unde...

Questions and things I didn't fully understand

posted 9 years ago by Etxpeme
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1.- Was Linda initially attracted to Michael or Nick?

I ask this because she seems let down when she enters the house of Nick and Mike and sees that Mike just left before they entered. Then, at the wedding dance she's staring at Mike. And later, when Linda and Mike go for drinks Nick seems a little bit jealous. Lastly, when Nick asks her to marry him and she answers yes, she doesn't sound very convinced.

However, when Mike comes back from Vietnam, Nick is the one she wants to see.

So, who did she want to be with?

2.- Why were they friends with Stan if he was such a prick and they were always fighting with him?

3.- Why didn't they want to come back home?

Were they afraid that the town had changed in their absence and they wanted to preserve the memories intact? In the case of Steven: was it because he didn't want to be dependent on his wife? Maybe Mike didn't want to face Linda and tell her he left Nick behind? What about Nick? Why didn't he want to come back to Linda, if he even told the Vietnamese prostitute that he wanted to call her that? How was it that Mike that had nothing to come back for was the only one who initially came back? Steve had his mother and his wife (and probably a son?) and Nick had Linda who was waiting for him to get married. On the other hand, Mike didn't have anything besides his friends?

4.- Why didn't Mike kill the deer? Was he fed up with violence?

5.- Why did Mike dress a military uniform after he had come back? He wasn't a soldier anymore. For how long are you ''allowed'' (meaning it's understandable or normal) to wear a uniform after the war?

6.- Why did the movie last 3 hours if it didn't explain anything, after all? Is it me (it usually is) or is the movie too subtle and too ambiguous? Like it gives you a lot of ''holes'' that you have to fill up.

[–] ablack90 9 years ago

I just saw this film for the ga-zillionth time. Saw it when I was a teen and remember it having a huge impact on me. I'll do my best to answer your questions:
1. Linda was attracted to Mike even before he left. You can tell by the way she was almost scared of him. She knew he stared at her, and when they had drinks by the bar, as soon as Nick walked in she ran to kiss him. I think she didn't want to admit it to herself until Mike came back. Doesn't mean she didn't feel guilt and grief about Nick.
2. lol Stan was annoying and I wondered the same thing, but in a small town where everyone works and parties together, I think people just put up with each other. Men are especially good that way.
3. They are traumatized. The beauty of this film is everything is subtext. The men go through that horrid torture and it's impossible to integrate who they were with who they've now become. That includes figuring out how to fit into their old lives. These men also carry with them the knowledge of how they reacted in the situation. And are grappling with that while no one around them back home knows this. Very lonely journey
4. Yes, he was done with violence. Thought that was a stunning scene, especially how slowly the deer walked off lol
5. Many soldiers dress upon return. He may not have been in combat any more, but once a soldier always a soldier, unless dishonourably discharged. He would have received medals for his conduct. You can put that uniform on any time. The few remaining WWII vets still dress.
6. There's really no holes. There's a lot of subtext which is the best kind of film-making. I have a hard time wrapping my head around Nick's choice to stay in Saigon to make money on russian roulette. I feel they could have shown a bit more reasoning for that. But I think the implication is that he was so destroyed by the torture, he had a psychic break. Many men who went to Vietnam were still 18, 19, 20 thereabouts. That's very young and the male brain becomes fully developed (according to scientists) at age 25. This means these young men were doubly traumatized. It's insane. This film was ahead of it's time before Oliver Stone was doing his magic, revealing the horrors of the Vietnam war.