In the 1978 Academy Award winning film Deer Hunter, the protagonist Michael played by Robert De Niro , enjoys hunting deer for sport. When he and friends/colleagues are drafted to war, transformed by it either psychologically, physically or both, he returns home and gives up hunting deer. In the first act (the first 30 pages) of the film Academy Award winner for Best Supporting Actor Christopher Walken’s character Nick describes their hunting ritual as something he enjoys merely for the trees. Hence, he is a poet; a man who possesses a gentle spirit and has very little desire to harm others even in his own defense.
The story takes an even deeper turn once the friends are in the trenches of the Vietnam War, survive and are able to return home as heroes. Nick’s inability to hunt represents the humanity in everyone. No one likes pain although it is accepted as a part of life. Unscathed from war Nick isn’t happy, relieved or even eager to return home. He is simply dead in terms of spirit. And without spirit, the feeling of being alive and well, then there is no point in living; one could succumb to just being a robot or zombie and going through the motions of life without leaving a footprint or caring to stop and smell the roses. It’s not that Nick’s character suggest giving up if having to face war but rather the innocence of thrusting a person prematurely into a situation like war.
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