Blawk Hawk Down

Black Hawk Down (2001) – on HD. Until the film itself, the only recollection I had of what eventually became known as the Battle of Mogadishu were the televised images and news of two American soldiers who were killed in Somalia, then stripped naked by a mob and dragged through the streets of the city. The event was first related as a book by Mark Bowden in 1999, and two years after that made into a film directed by Ridley Scott.

Scott is no stranger to epic films set in the Middle-East for certain: this is his fourth such film in the last decade. The others were Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, and Body of Lies; every one of them a favorite film of mine. I caught the film twice in the cinema, owned it on DVD, and picked it up again on Blu-ray as soon as it was commercial available last year.

The film closely follows Bowden’s book, which relates the events of 3-4 Oct 1993 when a group of US Army Rangers and Delta Force operatives in a supposed quick and fast operation to apprehend criminal Somalian warlords found themselves in a pitched battle in a hostile city and surrounded by thousands of Somalian militia. Despite superior weapons, tactics and support, the American forces found themselves fighting for their lives and losing the advantage when two of their heavy armored choppers – Black Hawks – were shot down by RPGs.

Black Hawk Down was made during the several years following the revived interest in war films that Saving Private Ryan (SPR) created. Like SPR and unlike other war films made during this period though, Black Hawk Down doesn’t attempt to moralize the conflict or take sides. The film relates the events quite as a matter-of-fact.

The story though is anything but conventional, even taking into account the fact that the events were reported in media. There are themes and narrative elements that you don’t find in typical war films. For instance, the film provides a contrasting look at the attitudes between the American services which fought in the battle – and surprisingly, they didn’t actually get along well, and the friction experienced in the heat of battle is one of the film’s several subplots.

Even though the film’s 8 years old now, the visuals on HD look as amazingly good as anything you can find in theatres today. In fact, upon watching the production features on the disc I was surprised to learn where computer-generated wizardry had been employed to create several key scenes. They’re seamlessly integrated with the live-filmed scenes.

The film boasts quite a range of manly actors, including several supporting actors in the film who’d normally command far bigger roles in other films. I guess the production had no difficulties attracting actors to play the many parts, even if the parts in several instances are almost cameos. The acting quality is about appropriate for films of this type, with the parts mostly physical in nature and little dramatic acting required. The one instance of bad acting though lies in Sam Shepard’s General William Garrison, the commander of the task force. Not only is he given bad lines, he hams it up even.

Saving Private Ryan still remains for me the most moving and powerful film I’ve seen so far in my 38 years of watching movies, and it’s incidentally a war movie as well. Black Hawk Down won’t appeal to everyone for sure. Viewers who want a film that has big battle scenes with a great emotional story at its heart should look no further than Braveheart. The film still works for me because it’s skillfully made, and while it tells a story whose outcome is well-know in media, nevertheless still succeeds in keeping audience adrenaline high in the very well-staged combat scenes.