Film review:Black Hawk Down Black Hawk Down
Reviewed by ‘‘Unka Jim edited by Seina
I just watched one of the most intense and realistic films I've ever seen! A lot of what I saw made me uncomfortable, which I think, is what the director had in mind .... Reality!
The film is "Black Hawk Down" and the director is one of, if not my very favorite film maker, Ridley Scott, whom has given us a story that we should see no matter how uncomfortable with war we may be. Taken from the book, Black Hawk Down: A Story of a Modern War by reporter Mark Bowden. The story tells us of a simple mission in war torn Somalia, where UN forces are trying to stabilize the country and feed it's starving population amid a bloody civil war that had, so far, taken 300,000 lives!
On Oct. 3, 1993, units of the elite American Rangers and those of the equally elite, Delta Force, are sent into the most hostile area of Mogadishu, Somalia, to locate and arrest two-members of the criminal War Lord, Mohamed Farrah Aidid's "cabinet." We see how the targets are located by paid informants and members of the Delta Force, and how this "intense military insertion" is planned to the last detail. We also see how the best of plans can, and will at times, go wrong!
This story is also about heroism and courage under fire. The willingness to risk your own life for that of your fellows and to do what seems to be the right thing. As Sgt. Eversmann, (Josh Hartnett) puts it: "...these people have no food, no jobs, no education and no future. We can either help or sit back and watch the country destroy itself on CNN."
If you were put off by the graphic depiction of war's casualties in the film "Saving Private Ryan" then you'll be all the more uncomfortable herein! I was. However, as this is an antiwar film, there is no sanitation of the facts! In the beginning, the quote from Plato that: "Only the dead have seen the end of war" is ever so poignant!
The Delta Force character, Sgt. Gibson called 'Hoot', (Eric Bana) says he is asked by friends: "Why do you do it?" (fight in foreign wars) He says he never gives them an answer because they wouldn't understand; that it's about the men next to you. This gave me pause to wonder if war is the only way men can truly bond?
This is an extremely intense story that compels the watcher and surpasses Scott's film making in Gladiator, even though it's on a smaller scale. Filmed in Morocco, where it's a whole lot safer for American actors to work. Scott and his team give us a highly believable Mogadishu, and a film you wont soon forget!
The film closes with the historical facts of the aftermath of the raid, followed by a most eerie rendition of The Minstrel Boy as the credits roll, including the names of the US servicemen who died that day.
The DVD has several special features including a making of short that is a must see, if only to come down from the intensity of the story! David Ansen of Newsweek said: "Ridley Scott's uncompromising vision is awesome." USA Today's Mike Clark, calls it "A Four-Star Knockout." Yes, it truly is!