<P> The friends return to Welsh's bar, with Michael's deer strapped to the hood of the car . They enter rambunctiously, spraying beers over each other and singing loudly . Welsh then makes his way to the piano and begins playing Chopin's Nocturne No. 6 Op. 15 - 3 . </P> <P> In Vietnam, U.S. helicopters attack a village . An unconscious Mike (now a Staff Sergeant in the Special Forces) wakes up to see an NVA soldier shoot a woman carrying a baby . Mike kills him with a flamethrower . Meanwhile, a unit of UH - 1 "Huey" helicopters drops off several U.S. infantrymen, Nick and Steven among them . Mike, Steven, and Nick unexpectedly find each other just before they are captured and held in a prisoner of war camp . For entertainment, the guards force the prisoners to play Russian roulette and gamble on the outcome . All three friends are forced to play . Steven plays against Mike, who offers moral support, but Steven breaks down and points the gun upwards whilst pulling the trigger, grazing himself with the bullet when it discharges . As punishment, the guards put him into an underwater cage full of rats and dead bodies . Mike and Nick hatch a plan to escape by playing against each other, with Mike convincing the guards to let them play Russian roulette with three bullets in the gun . After a tense match, they kill their captors and escape . </P> <P> After killing the guards, Mike rescues Steven . The three float downriver on a tree limb . An American helicopter finds them, but only Nick is able to climb aboard . The weakened Steven falls back into the water, and Mike plunges in the water to rescue him . Mike helps Steven to reach the river bank, but Steven's legs are broken, so Mike carries him through the jungle to friendly lines . Approaching a caravan of locals escaping the war zone, Mike stops a South Vietnamese military truck and places the wounded Steven on it, asking the soldiers to take care of him . </P> <P> Nick recuperates in a military hospital in Saigon with no knowledge of his friends . After being released, he goes AWOL and aimlessly stumbles through the red - light district at night . He encounters Julien Grinda, a Frenchman, outside a gambling den where men play Russian roulette for money . Grinda entices the reluctant Nick to participate and leads him into the den . Mike is present in the den, watching the game, but the two friends do not notice each other at first . When Mike does see Nick, he is unable to get his attention . When Nick is introduced into the game, he grabs the gun, fires it at the current contestant, and then again at his own temple, causing the audience to riot in protest . Grinda hustles Nick outside to his car to escape the angry mob . Mike cannot catch up with them as they speed away . </P>

What is the meaning of the movie the deer hunter