The Flipcritic

We hear about armed conflict in the news everyday. Some say that there are more wars today than there were during the cold war era, when there is actually a lesser number of wars today than there were back then. But due to the information age, we are constantly bombarded with casualties and killers. So continuous is the bombardment that we become numb. You recognize these places: Israel, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Indonesia... the list goes on.

I remember very clearly several years ago when I learned of the Somali incident in which 18 American soldiers were killed. It was an appalling scene. CNN displayed footage of their naked bodies being dragged through dusty streets in Mogadishu. It would be this catastrophe in US foreign policy that would mark the beginning of America's reluctance to send its own troops to help solve foreign disputes during the 1990s, a disaster considered to be the worst firefight suffered by US troops since the Vietnam war.

BLACK HAWK DOWN is the most graphic, intense, and harrowing reenactment of an armed conflict that I have ever seen. Its reconstruction of those terrible moments which led to the deaths of US Army Rangers, Delta Force commandos, along with almost a thousand Somalis (mostly militia) goes beyond what SAVING PRIVATE RYAN introduces. SPR only uses its initial 25-minute D-Day invasion sequence to let us know how horrific war can be, and other war films merely give us glimpses into battle. BHD gives us the complete scenario of this failed mission from beginning to end.

The movie chronicles the events of October 3, 1993, when scores of US Special Operation forces were sent into Somalia's capital of Mogadishu to extract its most powerful warlord Gen. Mohamed Farah Aidid, along with his fellow militia leaders. Aidid's groups had long been ransacking UN food aid intended for the general populace of Somalia, which at the time had been under widespread famine (according to the film, people were dying of starvation at the rate of a thousand a day). His militia was also held responsible for the killing of 25 Pakistani UN troops stationed near the city. The extraction of Aidid was intended to be the best solution to continue humanitarian activities. The operation that General William Garrison (Sam Shepard of SWORDFISH) mapped out was intended to be so swift that many of the US soldiers chose not to bring along rations.

Many action-adventure films tend to romanticize US Special Forces so skillfully as being highly trained, unemotional, extremely lethal, and almost incapable of error, that we forget that they're human beings. At one point in the film, Sergeant Eversman (Josh Hartnett of PEARL HARBOR) tells his squad in a concerned and cautious tone, "We're the elite. Let's act it out there." We are made to believe that their methods are fool proof and that their activities always go according to plan. In war, hardly anything goes according to plan, regardless of how skilled a military force may be. As the designs are laid out among the mission's team leaders on how everything should be carried out, nobody disagrees with the plan of action. There are qualms, but a general consensus is made among the decision-makers. But by the middle of the conflict, we know more or less what went wrong, and what misjudgments were made.

If you happen to wonder why many of the US Army Rangers portrayed in this movie look too young to be soldiers, it's not an oversight. According to CNN Perspective, the average age of the Rangers involved in the failed extraction was 19. The movie makes clear that the Delta Force commandos are much more experienced and battle-ready than their younger Ranger counterparts. Early in the film, many of the Rangers are uptight and giddy to participate in the extraction, not knowing the carnage that awaits them. Private Todd Blackburn (Orlando Bloom of THE LORD OF THE RINGS) proudly exclaims, "I've waited my whole life for this."

Parents who are thinking of bringing their kids with them to see this picture should know this, it contains a lot of three things: Blood, Bodies, and Bullets. Please, do not take little tykes to see this film. Ridley Scott is not afraid to show gore as evidenced in his gut-exploding scenes in ALIEN, dismemberment in GLADIATOR, and the outrageous brain-meal in HANNIBAL. Though some of you may be turned-off by this, BLACK HAWK DOWN is never tactless in showing its maiming. I expect a lot of adults to accept the bloodshed portrayed as realistically shocking as opposed to voyeuristic, but there are several unwatchable moments that I should not discuss.

Despite my warnings, the movie is not a chaotic bloodbath where the plot goes on autopilot once the shooting starts. It is one of the most skillful displays of filming that I've seen since TRAFFIC. The flow of events is so fluid that we become attuned to what is going on and where it is happening. Think of it as an unfolding of anarchy. Mr. Scott shows that he is master of his craft by making sense of the pandemonium that the combatants inhabit. He also exhibits a deft sense of atmosphere with his rich textures. You think that he is inventing new hues throughout the film. Notice the burning hot feel of the dessert contrasting against the gorgeous beauty of Mogadishu's shoreline. See how the mood of the city's battleground turns from frantic (early afternoon) to bleak (late afternoon) to frightening (evening) and then forlorn (early morning). Plus the special effects of Black Hawk helicopters crashing (hence the film's title) are seamlessly convincing. Expect some Oscar nominations for Best Sound, Best Editing, and Best Special Effects come March.

Some critics have hit this film for being so cold towards the casualties, that we don't care about the dead because of its feeble character development. I argue that it is a depiction of a day's events. How could one possibly develop dozens of characters during a 2-hour period when the movie's main purpose is too show the brutality the day's massacre? I believe that the mere context in which the victims died and in the manner in which they did will be more than enough to elicit pity and shock. Did we not feel pain in depiction of the Holocaust in SCHINDLER'S LIST? The massacres in THE KILLING FIELDS? The Japanese captives in THE THIN RED LINE? Some say it portrays Somalis with no background, but a director has to have a point of view, and we see it from the eyes of the US soldiers who have no idea who the Somali militias are.

Though little effort was put into character development, there are several notable performances in the film. Josh Hartnett is much more convincing as an idealistic Sergeant as compared to his PEARL HARBOR pilot counterpart. Tom Sizemore (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN) is a rock of confidence and stubborn doggedness which his subordinates draw upon. Eric Bana (CHOPPER) and William Fichtner (THE PERFECT STORM), an immensely dependable and underrated character actor, are admirable as combat-intelligent Delta Force commandos who will do anything to get everyone out at any cost. And Sam Shepard is hard-nosed general who knows the risks involved, has good intentions, and in the midst of tragedy does all he can to save remaining lives.

The greatest value that one can get from BLACK HAWK DOWN are its revelations. That real heroes are made on the battlefield and not by politicians. This is not a political film, and certain people should stop trying to make it so. I don't believe that this film portrays Somalis in a bad light any more than SCHINDLER'S LIST tried to say that the Germans where bad. It says that military strategies, no matter how well thought-out, don't always run their course. It shows how soldiers no matter how well trained, are just as afraid as the rest of us when stepping into the line of fire. And most of all, it reveals that though conflicts like this may seem like little news items, upon closer inspection, they are about violence and heroism beyond comprehension.

Note: For more information on the Black Hawk Down incident, you can check out this CNN link: http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/10/27/ret.thomas.somalia.cnna/

Posted by FLIPCRITIC at January 21, 2002 12:00 AM