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People are voting emotionally.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

In the mid-to-late '80s, America finally came to terms with the Vietnam War, exorcising their demons via popular culture. On TV, we had Vietnam veterans The A-Team coming to the rescue of the needy. On the radio, Paul Hardcastle told us that the average age was 'n-n-n-n-nineteen', while Stan Ridgeway recounted the story of an awfully big marine. In the cinemas, Chuck Norris was Missing In Action, Rambo asked 'Do we get to win this time?', Tom Cruise was Born on the Fourth of July, Robin Williams was screeching 'Good Morning', Michael J. Fox suffered the Casualties of War, and Kubrick's jacket was of the full metal variety. Oliver Stone's Vietnam film Platoon even cleaned up at the Oscars, winning four awards, including Best Picture.It's understandable that Hamburger Hill, with its cast of relative unknowns and second-tier director, didn't receive quite as much attention as the aforementioned heavy-hitters, but if you're serious about war movies, don't let the lack of any big names put you off: the film is just as worthy of praise as Platoon, if not more-so, the green cast only adding to the film's already palpable authenticity. Shot in the thick jungles and even thicker mud of the Phillipines, the film tells of one of the most costly battles of the Vietnam War, the fight for Hill 937 in the Ashau Valley, known to grunts as Hamburger Hill. Director John Irvin's aim is to capture the horrors of war in all their bloody detail, and the sense of realism he achieves is remarkable: when his characters die, they don't throw their arms up in slow motion to the strains of Adagio for Strings… they do so in a sudden welter of gore, hammering home the notion that war is hell.By the end of Hamburger Hill, the viewer is left as emotionally drained as its surviving characters are physically exhausted.

Director Francois Truffaut famously said "There is no such thing as an anti-war film." People taking dramatic action, risking their lives, and doing noble deeds are the stuff of war films, even anti-war films. People rather like to see explosions and guns firing. The more terrifying and horribly war is presented, the more a purportedly anti-war movie feels like a recruitment film. Don't try to tell me that "Apocalypse Now" or "Full Metal Jacket" are truly anti-war when most people in the audience are getting revved up and excited during the action sequences. Hamburger Hill is an amazingly accurate film. In my opinion, it is the only truly anti-war film ever made. Of course, this means that not everyone will like it.

It has been a while that I saw Platoon, Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket. Movies that apparently are often used as a comparison in judging this movie. I read a lot of veterans say that this is the most realistic one out of the bunch. Knowing little about the reality of it i cant judge it on realistic criteria. Only things that came off a little bit unrealistic were an exploding head and the "firework". The rest was quite horrific, and i am sure thats what war is. But a movie should have more to offer then realism, and that is where the movie failed a bit. It just had little impact on me. The soldiers in this movie showed too little of themselves before and between battle to get me emotionally involved. In the dying finale on the hill i even had problems distinguishing one dying soldier from the other. It now felt as a final episode of a series which earlier episodes i missed out on.Apart from that i noticed discussion about whether this is an anti-war movie or not. The horror speaks for itself. Do you think it's worth it?? I don't. Of course most soldiers are not happy with press hanging around the spectacle while their comrades are dying off, or for antiwar protesters for that matter. But that seems a logical perspective to me once you are out there fighting and doing your job. offtopic: Not only in this movie, but also other stuff i watched and read about Vietnam i have gotten the image that amongst warprotestors soldiers were harassed once returning. I have also demonstrated a lot against military involvement of my country. But pointing fingers at soldiers is just screwed up. Then, as an anti-war protester, you seriously don't get it.

Those who have baked this movie seem to have done so because they found the characters unlikeable and undiscernible. That is because the movie expects you to realize that these people ARE you and me. They are not glorified Hollywood hero stereotypes. They are real people thrust into the madhouse that was Vietnam. It was a different time and what is seen on the screen is an accurate depiction of how people acted with each other then. It is also based on an actual event. That means it really happened!! All they had to do was take a hill back from the Cong. This is some fantastic glory of a mission. So, if you are looking for Arnold Schwartzenegger and mind-numbing special effects, it isn't here. It's real! Vietnam was insane. This movie conveys that accurately. Once you understand the reality and if you have actually lived during that time, it makes a kind of perverse sense.