Some readers are objecting to my inclusion of The Deer Hunter in a list of movies that leaned left (scroll down for the full colloquy between yours truly, John Miller, and Jon Adler). They argue that it’s not so much an anti-Vietnam film as a work of art exposing the horrors of war. That’s all fine with me. As I said, it was a list just off the top of my head. I don’t think the movie is particularly left-wing (and some quick research reveals that the Soviet bloc nations protested its depiction of the Vietnamese). But it did come out amidst and among a slew of anti-Vietnam war movies and surely reflects the Vietnam-centric anti-war zeitgeist of the time. The patriotism of the men is at times cast as antiquated and a bit naïve, for example. And while I think the readers make good points about how it’s not explicitly and ideologically left-wing, I don’t think it’s crazy to say it leans left either. Regardless, I do think it’s a great movie (if a bit too long).