Neal Pais Daily Arts Writer

Alternatingly gorgeous and heart-wrenching, Michael Cimino's "The Deer Hunter" unquestionably stands as one of the finest war movies in the Academy's history. It is also perhaps the most haunting.

Ironically overlooked when held up to peers "Platoon," "Apocalypse Now" and "Full Metal Jacket," the 1978 Vietnam epic arguably changed the way America came to perceive the war in a way that others couldn't. Juxtaposing the nightmares of Saigon with the simplicity of a blue-collar mining town in Western Pennsylvania, Michael Cimino artfully presented not only the traditionally explored theme of alienation, but also a host of deeply personal consequences his characters endure.

"The Deer Hunter" tracks the condition of a tight-knit group of salt-of-the-earth steel workers through their pre-war joys, tours of duty, tragic detainments and eventual homecomings. The film's story is largely centered around the intricate relationships between Mike (Robert DeNiro), Nick, played by a stellar Christopher Walken, who received the Best Supporting Actor Award for his performance and Linda (Meryl Streep). The two embark on separate, tragically spirit-crushing odysseys after their holding at a POW camp deep within the jungles of North Vietnam.

Cimino's 183-minute marvel begins and ends within a quintessential industrial American town; its residents toil at the mines, yet they are content if not happy within their simple niche. Their lives are shaped by Polish Catholicism and American patriotism. Once Mike, Nick and Steve (John Savage) are planted in sublimely foreign Viet Cong territory, they are forced to confront their worst fears and rely on their strength of their friendship in order to survive.

"The Deer Hunter" masterfully captures both the mentality of blue-collar America and the horrors of 70s era South Asia. No one can forget the harrowing Russian roulette sequences or the beauty of the deer hunts. The cinematography is clinically detached, yet somehow the film is emotionally richer. Moving me to the brink of weeping, "The Deer Hunter" certainly encapsulates the most traumatic aspects of our nation's conflict better than any other work.