Hamburger Hill

Though the anti-war sentiments of Hamburger Hill come through loud and clear, the film is squarely on the side of those courageous, much-maligned Americans who fought and died in Vietnam. Based on a true incident, the story takes place in 1969, as the 101st Airborne Division confronts the Vietcong ...more

John Irvin's visceral, grunt's-eye-view of one of the most notoriously savage battles of the Vietnam War is a solid, beautifully directed film somewhat undercut by a perfunctory script. The film focuses on a dozen or so members of a rifle platoon assigned to take Hill 937 in the Ashau Valley in May of 1969. In Oliver Stone's Vietnam War film Platoon (1986), the unit's dissension reflected the reality of a divided nation. Hamburger Hill, however, raises an equally painful issue from this unique ...more