I can't believe that this film currently rates on IMDB higher than both Paths of Glory and Platoon. The latter is one of the best anti-war films ever made - by a man WHO WAS ACTUALLY THERE.
Speilberg's technical mastery may be great but his characters are cardboard and his understanding of men's motivation's is fatally flawed. As Oliver Stone recognises in Platoon, soldiers fight for one another not a great cause. As the Platoon Sergeant says in Hamburger Hill regarding the death of one of the men: 'He died taking out that automatic weapon for you and third squad - and don't you give him anything less.'
Speilberg's technical mastery may be great but his characters are cardboard and his understanding of men's motivation's is fatally flawed. As Oliver Stone recognises in Platoon, soldiers fight for one another not a great cause. As the Platoon Sergeant says in Hamburger Hill regarding the death of one of the men: 'He died taking out that automatic weapon for you and third squad - and don't you give him anything less.'