Film Review: Black Hawk Down

Director: Ridley Scott

A war drama adapted from the book of the same name by Mark Bowden, Ridley Scott directs an enthralling masterpiece with an ensemble cast of male actors playing Delta Force Soldiers and Army Rangers. The cast includes Eric Bana, Tom Sizemore, Orlando Bloom, Josh Hartnett and Ewan McGregor to name just a few.

The Soldiers

*possible spoilers throughout*

The film is set in 1993 in Somalia as the American army fights against the Somali militia who declared war on UN peacekeeping personnel in the region. The civil war has cost the lives of thousands of civilians as the battle for government control of the country continues, Black Hawk Down charts the day of The Battle of Mogadishu. The companies engage in a mission to capture the Somali militia leader Mohamed Farrah Aidid and hope to be back at base within the hour but the local armies are warned of their arrival so a battle ensues after a Black Hawk helicopter is shot down. The US troops battle to secure the crash site and take any casualties back to base.

After a slow opening where many characters are all slowly introduced we are thrown into a tense street battle in Mogadishu, the film becomes more engrossing as the melee unfolds and changes from a standard war movie to a claustrophobic exhibition of modern warfare. The many different characters who are followed through the battle means we see the battle from different viewpoints although a minor criticism is the lack of balance in showing the battle from the Somali side.

Black Hawk over Mogadishu

Despite being an action packed war movie, it subtly conveys an anti-war message as we see the death of many heroic men on both sides as well as the mental effect it has on soldiers. The ambiguity around Eric Bana’s character is superbly crafted and his conversation at the end with Josh Hartnett’s character is intensely chilling.

Unfortunately the film like many of its kind is too pro-American, historical inaccuracies creep in like the story of the Pakistan and Malaysian troops being a glorified taxi service to help the Americans when they were there at the battle as well. Whilst the Somali’s are all seen as the enemy that are just there to be shot by the heroic American soldiers when this isn’t always the case, a lack of background on the conflict in Mogadishu was apparent. Unsurprisingly the film was widely condemned by many for being prejudiced but political points aside this is an intensely thrilling movie.

3.5/4 thrilling and claustrophic war epic.