Review of:Black Hawk Down (2002)
Director:Ridley Scott
Rating:R for intense, realistic, graphic war violence, and for language.(
Starring:Josh Hartnett, Tom Sizemore, Ewan McGregor, Sam Shepard, William Fichtner
Official Site
Based on the events that happened in 1993 when the United States was trying to provide food, and humanitarian aid to the starving people of Somalia. The events take place around the downing of two black hawk helicopters that were being used to deliver troops and food into the area. The only problem that they ran into was that a civil war was going on.
We are brought into the story at the beginning of the mission. The reasons are not really given for the civil disorder that was happening in Somalia, but the U.N. felft obligated to provide some sort of relief to the people of Somalia.
A little background on Mohamed Farah Aideed is in order. He is the principal bad guy in this film. He was a bandit/warlord that had gained the upper hand in the region. He spent most of the 60's and 70's in prison for planning a coupe against the government. He was eventually released and made ambassador to India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Civil war erupted in 1991. He laid a claim to the region with a lot of support from the people.
We see a lot of the film through the eyes of Josh Hartnett (playing as Staff Sergeant Matt Eversmann ) of Pearl Harbor fame. We catch the soldiers as they are going into the area controlled by Mohamed, and that's when the dust hits the fan. They are attacked on all sides. It is hard to see who is actually with you, and who is against you in the film since their are two sides fighting. With every passing moment the situation gets more, and more out of hand. When the helicopters go down they are basically surrounded by a whole town bent on their destruction.
The film is very serious, but they have three soldiers that provide a little comedy rellief to maybe relieve some of the stress of the battles. Their is plenty of symbolism in place in the film. One example shows an older man holding a small hurt child walking in front of U.S. troops. The film definately is trying to convey a message, and the battle scenes are great.
