fludd.org - Movie Review

After having given us many war movies that take place either during the Second World War or the Vietnam War, Hollywood has finally decided to release a movie about a modern war that is really near us, in a manner of speaking. Forget the European ruins built by Nazi soldiers or a demolished Vietnamese landscape, thanks to the work of the American troops, back then. All you are about to see is Africa, a continent that few people really know, from inside, naturally, and the movie transports you in Mogadishu, the capital city of Somalia.

Taking place in 1993, Black Hawk Down contains a very touching story of the day when many American soldiers, from the Rangers, were sent in Somalia in order to help the men of Delta Force to capture a Somali warlord. As a movie lover, I can tell you that this movie is far different from other great American war movies that you have had the chance to see in your life such as Saving Private Ryan and Platoon, because instead of being a told story, the story unfolds itself in front of us and you really have nothing to understand in order to appreciate Black Hawk Down at its fullest potential.

Since Black Hawk Down is based on a book written by Mark Bowden, a former soldier who did some military service in Somalia, the movie (and also the book) presents that day that is being described in the movie, from the briefing to the very long gunfight that started at 3:00 p.m. one day and finally ending at 5:00 a.m. the next morning. Obviously, many people can notice that the movie main’s purpose is not to give to us a History lesson, but we can hopefully forgive director Ridley Scott for this, since Black Hawk Down is neither about the people in Somalia, nor the warlord who’s the center of attention. In fact, the movie is about soldiers sent in a war that is not theirs and linked with each other by brotherhood and that motto: “leave no man behind.” There’s no specific hero in the movie, because all men have a role in the movie and they are all Black Hawk Down’s heroes no matter what they do, because of their courage, but as the story evolves, the soldiers, from the Rangers and Delta Force, will have to struggle for their survival and they start leaving men behind without realizing it.

My cousins who watched the movie with me, believed that this movie is only 30% plot and 70% action, in other words, they believe that Black Hawk Down doesn’t rely on a clear structure, in terms of storyline. Personally, I believe that Ridley Scott has taken the decision to present the movie as if it was a documentary, but let it be said that the term that is more appropriate to describe the movie is “reality show”. From the briefing scene to the gunfight scenes, director Ridley Scott (Gladiator) has decided to opt for a more realistic approach in order to give us the odd feeling that we, as movie viewers, are taking part to a war that most of us haven’t hear of by showing a very explicit violence that look so realistic and the sounds effect would certainly make you believe that a bomb is exploding just behind or in front of you while you are sitting in front of your television.

In Mogadishu that day, well-trained Special Forces soldiers faced off against hundreds of the Somali warlord's well-armed militiamen. The Somalis had RPGs (rocket-propelled grenade launchers) and large-caliber machineguns mounted on moving vehicles. In other words, the Americans were hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned. The movie makes mention of the U.S. Forces being unable to attain all the military equipment they needed to properly execute the mission given to them by then-President Bill Clinton, but once again, the film seems overly uninterested in background information or politics. As one character notes, as soon as the bullets start flying, politics go out the window.

In terms of action scenes, those who don’t like to use their brain while watching a movie will certainly appreciate Black Hawk Down at its fullest potential and I know how to describe the violence that is present in the movie, because it’s up to you to see how it is. Hopefully, unlike any other war movies that you have seen, I’m sure that you won’t be able to name all the actors that formed the cast, since the movie is about collective heroism rather than individual heroism.

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