Michael Cimino

While this film has some beautiful moments - mostly in the Polish community of the small Pennsylvania town - it is a vastly overrated melodrama. No one involved in the film had any experience in the Vietnam War, so there are patent misrepresentations - the bamboo cage torture, for instance, and the Russian roulette game. And it hinges on a pseudo-spiritual, but actually hoked-up notion about "one clean shot" that means . . . well, nothing. (There is also a scene in which all the Asians seem to be a mindless, hysterical mass - something sensitive viewers will find offensive.) It's sad that such talented performers gave their all to such a study in Wagnerian overkill, but their efforts don't come anywhere near redeeming the film.

For anyone who wants to see something close to perfection in acting and directing, this is it. Stunning in its depth on all fronts.