Black Hawk Down - Special Edition [DVD] [2002]

For those of us fortunate enough to have never been in a situation like that, I can only guess that Black Hawk Down gives you some sense of what it must have been like. Barely halfway through the movie I found myself glancing at my watch, not through boredom, but because my heart had been steadily racing for the past 40 minutes and I wondered when the roller-coaster ride of action and horror was actually going to ease off. It doesn't, not until the very end and even then you're left with a sense that it's still waiting to pounce.

Black Hawk Down is not brutal or blood-thirsty just for the hell of it, it aims to depict the truth. Judging by the fact that the US military have apparently made the book compulsory reading for their soldiers, I think you can judge for yourself how accurate this movie is.

Ridley Scott, hot off the heels of Gladiator, pulls no punches in his direction of this tragic fiasco, as he provides us with 135 minutes of ear shattering, stomach-churning, war is hell, all out action. There to the story is that American troops are on a peace-keeping mission trying to support the supply of food to the people of Somalia, who are being starved as a result of the local warlords commandeering all the Red Cross relief efforts. However, as is usually the case, their efforts are compromised by politics and they have to watch on helplessly as the Somalian guerrillas turn their guns own their own starving people. As a result, a plan is formulated by the army to enter the hostile capital of Mogidishu in broad daylight to abduct two of Mohammad Aidid's most senior aides. However, even before the mission can begin, the plan is hamstrung by Washington politicians who limit the mission's aerial support and firepower. And so the mission begins with the Delta Force and Rangers but everything starts to unravel when one of the helicopters involved in the mission, the said Black Hawk of the title, gets shot down in the middle of the city and the whole mission begins to tragically unravel.

Ridley Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer have provided a 135 minute deafening assault on the senses. The cinematography by Slawomir Idziak is impeccable and in a strange way aesthetically pleasing and the cast, led by Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana (The Hulk) and Ewan McGregor, is perhaps implausibly good looking and McGregor's first attempt at an American accent is not altogether consistent or convincing. However, the aesthetic appeal of three of Hollywood's hottest young stars is balanced by the chunky Tom Sizemore and the so ugly (only a mother could love that face) Ewen Bremner of Trainspotting fame, who actually provides a stand out supporting performance and an American accent which impressively belies his Scottish roots. Also particularly impressive in another supporting performance is Jason Isaacs (Event Horizon, The Patriot) as Captain Mike Steele.

One of the most refreshing but also most frustrating things about Black Hawk Down is its lack of political context. There is no explanation as to whose decision it was to limit the mission and no finger pointing at those that inevitably made the decision to pull out of Somalia. There is also very little background character development about any of the soldiers with perhaps the exception of Staff Sergeant Matt Eversmann (Josh Hartnett), who is presented as being somewhat pragmatic and anti-war. The movie does not follow the traditional formula of war movies that focuses upon ordinary men overcoming great odds through glorious sacrifice to triumph with flag-waving patriotism. Instead it focuses upon professional soldiers drawn together by a common aim to stay alive, free of the usual moral justifications of being a soldier in the first instance. It is neither anti-war, nor anti-army. It is about comradeship through necessity, kill or be killed and in Black Hawk Down there is plenty of both. Or as Eric Bana's character puts it "It's about the man next to you; that's all there is." Ultimately, whether you enjoy Black Hawk Down or not will depend on whether you like war movies and whether or not you like them to be gritty and realistic. Four stars ****