I love those final scenes in Cimino’s film The Deer Hunter. Thankfully, the Vietnam war is over. At what was once their local bar near a steelworks in Pennsylvania, the soldiers and their pals regroup. They are mourning their friend, Nick, who dies in that Russian roulette scene in Saigon, beautifully played in the film by Christopher Walken. One of them is in the kitchen, struggling with his emotions. He starts to cry. And then, in honour of his friend, he begins to sing ‘God Bless America.’ The sound drifts in to the table where the group is sitting. A…

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