Black Hawk Down | Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor | We've got a Blackhawk down, we've got a...

Black Hawk Down | Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor | A very accurate movie of the event.

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Black Hawk Down

	Black Hawk Down Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor Sony Pictures, 2002 average customer review:based on 1018 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

We've got a Blackhawk down, we've got a Blackhawk Down. Super-61 is down.

~Black Hawk Down~ was Director Ridley Scott's masterful cinematic remake of the little known 1993 American Special Forces intervention in Somalia, under the auspices of that corrupt, ineffective organization we affectionately know as the United Nations. On June 5, 1993, 24 Pakistani UN peacekeepers were ambushed and killed in an area of Mogadishu, controlled by Aidid. On June 6, the United Nations Security Council issued a toothless Resolution 837 calling for the arrest and trial of those responsible for the ambush. The U.S. Government answered the call. Operation Gothic Serpent, was authorized with the purpose of hunting down and capturing the Islamic leader and warlord of Somalia, Muhammad Farrah Aidid. With an economy in shambles, the warlords reigned supreme, using the relief given from international humanitarian relief programs as a spoils system to buy influence and power. The conversation between one of the warlord's henchman and an American officer was particularly foreboding: "Do you think if you get General Aidid," queried Abdullah Hassan, "we will simply put down our weapons and adopt American democracy? That the killing will stop? We know this. Without victory, there will be no peace. There will always be killing, see? This is how things are in our world." Like the book, by Mark Bowden mentioned, you realize why that Mogadishu was nicknamed "the Black Sea" by the American G.I.'s that were dispatched there. Those beleaguered outnumbered American soldiers learned how fleet-footed they could be when chased down the streets by Somali mobs welding AK-47s and machetes.

Whether it was intended to, or not, (which I doubt it was,) this is a powerful anti-war film against American interventionism abroad. I for one have empathy for the American G.I. and the sacrifices they make, but also would like to see them alive and well in the U.S. And as one soldier said in the film, "Once that first bullet goes past your head, politics just goes right out the window." Intervention beget more intervention in this sad tale. Americans were trapped and pinned down. Then Blackhawks and more troops were called in for support. Then those Blackhawks were shot down. Then more troops were sent into rescue the rest. 'Leave no man behind,' was an honorable U.S. Army tradition, as well it should be, but I am apt to reflect on the futility of sending so many men into a futile battle in the first place. People can boast about the Army's superior kill ratios, but the 'Mog' as it was nicknamed, is but a microcosm of our government's present costly, futile war in Iraq which commenced in 2003. America's history of twentieth-century military victories are often Pyrrhic victories, or those battles won at too great a cost. In the case of Aidid, he was never captured, and there was no strategic victory. He died a few years later.

In 1983, after the tragic bombing of the Marine barracks, then President Ronald Reagan rightly condemned it as a "despicable attack," but ultimately came to affirm the futility of American intervention in the Middle East: "Perhaps we didn't appreciate fully enough the depth of the hatred and the complexity of the problems that made the Middle East such a jungle. Perhaps the idea of a suicide car bomber committing mass murder to gain instant entry to Paradise was so foreign to our own values and consciousness that it did not create in us the concern for the Marines' safety that it should have. In the weeks immediately after the bombing, I believed the last thing that we should do was turn tail and leave. Yet the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics forced us to rethink our policy there. If there would be some rethinking of policy before our men die, we would be a lot better off. If that policy had changed towards more of a neutral position and neutrality, those 241 Marines would be alive today." Analogous thinking could be applied to Mogadishu or Baghdad.

The most mesmerizing part of the entire film is when the idealist Staff Sergeant Matt Eversmann (played by Josh Harnett) talks to his fallen comrade on a morgue table: "A friend of mine asked me before I got here, 'Why are y'all going to fight someone else's war. What do y'all think you are heroes?' I didn't know what to say at the time. But, if you ask me again, I'd say No. I'd say there is no way in hell. Nobody asks to be a hero, it just sometimes turns out that way."

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A very accurate movie of the event.

I was attending North Georgia College when the events in Somalia happened. Turns out I had a few former classmates over there. And we couldn't believe the SNAFU the media was making out of this. Loved the part when the camera crew met the SEALS as they came onto the beach and lit them up with lights (they're lucky they didn't get shot). Then the book came out. Then this movie. It really was surprising how accurate the movie is and how true it stays to the book and the history. I suppose it helps having the SOAR guys play themselves. But I was very impressed with this film. The action and drama are not-stop and for the most part realistic. It really captures the esprit de corps of elite soldiers and the courage and bravery shown by our armed forces but often overlooked by some.

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Great movie made better!

A great action movie with great writing and a feverish pace that I love to watch again and again. Blu-Ray makes the experience unbelievably clear both visually and sonically.

THE "MOG" AT GROUND ZERO, RIDLEY SCOTTS' SHINING MOMENT

Only two movies steer you into ground zero combat, this movie and Saving
Private Ryan. A great translation of the book Black Hawk Down, done by Ridley Scott. This movie shows the sweat, blood, dust, clinging to a group of Rangers as they fight to survive in urban combat. A regular group of grunts would have suffered much higher casualties on this Special Ops mission. Early in the film, Ewan McGregor tells a young ranger (Orlando Bloom) reporting in, "Welcome to the Mog", short for
Mogadishu.

This is a visual trip into Mogadishu, Somalia. You are surrounded by the eerie city with its' sights and sounds warning of trouble ahead for American forces. This film digs in deep and shows the baptism under fire of a young soldier fighting off fear and panic. (A normal process in battle) Delta Force Sgts. thinking on the run to keep their men alive.

You feel and sense a mini "Alamo" taking place, when the men are surrounded in the city streets and cut off from chopper evacuation. The courage and creed of the Rangers keeps them alive. Your heart goes out to a medic who is working to save a rangers' life. Blocking out the noise of gunfire, he works frantically to prevent shock and blood loss, trying to prevent death. Different scenes portray the canvas of combat, showing how a prisoner snatch operation turns into chaos, planning goes out the window, and survival looks dim, tied up in politics and uncertainty.

The original book is read at West Point and studied by the next group of officers. Regardless of politics, this is a salute to the Rangers and their creed-- "Leave no man behind".

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Excellent Movie

This is one my favorite movies about war. The UMD is a excellent format for see movies. A good images, audio and a lot subtitles.

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