For those as yet inexperienced in the brutal world of Hill 937, it should be noted that John Irvin’s film offers none of the A-list glamour found in Tigerland, nor has it remained in the mind of your average cinemagoer in the same way as Oliver Stone’s trilogy, or Coppola’s abstract masterpiece.

Instead of symbolism, Hamburger Hill chooses to place the viewer smack bang in the middle of hell, with no frills. The film is neither anti-war nor pro-war. It is simply humanistic- a theme which serves only to re-iterate the harsh reality of the conflict.

Following the story of a young squad in the 101st US Airborne Division as they are sent in into the A Shau Valley to take the strategically important Hill 937. Queue a muddy, near-apocalyptic vision of war that is prepared to die with its boots on.

The narrative successfully shows the difficulties and coping methods encountered and used by young men on the other side of the world, unsure as to the purpose of their battle, yet wholly aware of the racial and class based divisions that are representative of the unfairness of the conflict, both internally within the US camp, and within the context of the wider conflict itself.

Led into battle by the heroic Sgt. Franz (Dylan McDermott), squaddies such as Languille (Anthony Barrile), Motown (Michael Boatman) and Doc Johnson (Courtney B. Vance) offer a personal insight into war. From the pressures of leaving loved ones behind to paranoia that results from being surrounded by strangers and enemies and the brotherhood formed from shared trauma, the movie’s greatest achievement is without question its use of a realist aesthetic.

The fact that Irvin himself spent time in Vietnam with the squad upon which the fictional 101st are based upon serves to support the notion that as much as here be Hollywood, here be history too.

At the time produced with a predominantly inexperienced cast, shot in the intolerable heat and rain of the jungle in the Philippines during a production that involved illness, death and snipers, Hamburger Hill’s new edition should ensure that one of the greatest realist films about the conflict will not be forgotten.

DVD Extras

Hamburger Hill: The Appearance of Reality Medics in Vietnam featurette. Vietnam War Timeline Audio commentary with writer/producer Jim Carabatsos and actors Anthony Barrile, Harry O’Reilly and Daniel O’Shea.

Hamburger Hill: The Appearance of Reality offer a good insight into the mode of production that was so essential in order to maintain the realism of the films. Background as to the inspiration behind the story also adds to the feeling that the movie is more that simply a war story.