7) Black Hawk Down
Ridley Scott’s war film is based upon the book of the same name by Mark Bowden, and is produced by Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer. The film depicts The Battle Of Mogadishu, which took place in October 1993, after Somali militia – under the command of warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid – declared war on the UN personnel that remained behind after the withdrawal of UN peacekeeping forces that had been deployed during Somalia’s devastating civil war. In the political upheaval, Aidid had proclaimed himself President of Somalia, and US forces were sent to capture him.
The film shows US forces outside of Mogadishu capturing warlord Osman Ali Atto, who had been supplying arms to the militia, and then moving to capture two of Aidid’s most trusted advisers – Omar Salad Elmi and Abdi Hassan Awale Qeybdiid. What follows is a brutal and sustained battle, as US forces – on the ground and in the air – come under fire from heavily armed Somali fighters. US Rangers are dropped in wrong locations, military personnel are shot, wounded and killed, and helicopters (Black Hawks) are brought down with RPGs. As small pockets of US forces are trapped and pinned down, the battle becomes a rescue mission, with traumatized soldiers working against the clock to recover their brothers-in-arms.
The film caused some controversy upon release, with eye-witnesses questioning its accuracy. Make no mistake – this is the American version of what happened on that dark October night. No Somali actors were used, nor were any Somali consultants employed. In fact, Somali audiences unsurprisingly took great exception to the finished film as a whole. Likewise, as is often the case with American war films, the involvement of other nations was effectively removed from the narrative, with the military contributions of both Malaysia and Pakistan either missing or greatly reduced.
The historical inaccuracies and omissions are one of two reasons why this is a film you’ll only want to watch once. The fact that this is essentially a biased depiction of American forces being attacked by dehumanized Somali Bad Guys makes for uncomfortable viewing, as it is clear that much has been left out of the story. But, those factual issues notwithstanding, it is disturbing viewing because it is a technically proficient portrayal of a terrifying war-zone battle – and the fact that we know these were real people only makes it more harrowing.
Dispensing with the usual character introductions and backstories, Ridley Scott employs an all-star cast of intensely talented actors to draw the audience in. Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner, Sam Shepard, Jeremy Piven, Orlando Bloom and Tom Hardy all feature as US military personnel under the most extreme stress. The brutality of the warfare gives way to palpable terror and heartbreak as we find ourselves with isolated soldiers of a downed Black Hawk being overrun by hostile forces – members of the world’s mightiest military dropped on a front-line and rendered powerless in the face of unimaginable rage and death.
There is no happy ending here – not even for those that made it back to the UN safe-zone. For the audience, this film is an endurance test in which – if you make it to the end – you are rewarded only with the knowledge that you just watched the end of 19 American soldiers and 1000 Somalis in a military mission that failed to meet its primary objective.
