A Combat Blockbuster That Does Not Trivialize the Experiences of the Troops

Rating: 8/10 (8 July 2009)

Neither a nationalistic constitutional in military muscle nor a sublime allegory about the fruitlessness of war, this Bruckheimer-produced blockbuster chronicles a U.S. military raid that went miserably awry when Utopian intentions ran into unforeseen defiance. In Somalia, in 1993, 18 Americans were killed, 70 more were wounded, and inside days President Bill Clinton pulled out troops that were on an altruistic errand. At that point, some 300,000 Somalis had died of starvation, and the U.S. purpose was to assist the arrival of U.N. food shipments. Somali warlords were more concerned with insulating their territory than feeding their people, a beforehand word to the wise of the sort of fanaticism that led to 9/11.
Ridley Scott's $90 million thirteenth feature is unbending in its intent. It wants to chronicle as precisely as possible what it was like to be one of the soldiers under fire on that mission. Hour by hour, step by step, it patches up the sequence of actions. The idea was to set up an unforeseen incursion by helicopter-borne troops, joined by ground forces, on a meeting of a warlord's top lieutenants. This was thought to be such a bottom-line errand that some soldiers left behind their canteens and night-vision gear, expecting to be back at the base in a few hours.
Enemy rockets brought down two of the helicopters. The warlord's troops rapidly cohered and surrounded the U.S. positions. Roadblocks and trifling transmissions hindered a support convoy from convening. And a cruel crossfire blossomed into a struggle of shame, remorse and erosion. The Americans gave better than they got, but from any perspective angle, the U.S. onslaught was a total mishap.
The confrotnation indeed appears to have disintegrated into a gory free-for-all. Ridley Scott's realization is to relinquish it to some coherent degree to the audience. We understand, more or less, where the Americans are, and why, and what their situation is. We follow several leading characters, but only the sharpest of us may keep track of them and discern one from another. The movie doesn't rely on dialogue or characterizations. It is about the coordination of that day in October, and how training did help those soldiers to secure their own lives as well as probable when all the designs went wrong and they were forsaken.
Showing implicit resilience in the face of a logistically mind-boggling production, Scott's compositional approach makes use of the aspect on that day of aerial spotter planes with infra-red sensors that could expose the action of the humans below. As the engagement unravels, Sam Shepard and his fellow officers can follow it on screens, but are incapable of taking advantage of this news. It is a valuable means for keeping the audience informed. We trail various dispersive strands: A man falls from a helicopter and is injured when he misses his descent rope. A pilot is taken prisoner. Frantic melees expand in streets and rubble as day turns to dusk. The Americans are short on ammo and water, confronting attackers not too reticent about subjecting themselves to peril.
Though designed for action fans, Black Hawk Down doesn't have leonine limelight characters like most war movies. The leading characters are played by stars who will be acquainted with persistent moviegoers but may be hard to tell apart for others. They include Josh Hartnett, who makes us truly belief his character's concern for public welfare, as a staff sergeant in command of one of the raiding teams; live-wire Ewan McGregor as a Ranger specialist whose specialties are paperwork and coffee-making until he is pressed into service; Tom Sizemore as a veteran who provides steady counsel for younger troops, and the ardent William Fichtner as a chivalrous fighter who seems to have mentally embedded every atom of training, and exemplifies it inherently.
The cinematography by Slawomir Idziak eschews the glaring hues of celebratory combat movies, and its desolate, granular shades steadily spend of light as night falls. The later scenes of the movie feel chilly and forlorn; the surrounded troops are alone and endangered in the night. The screenplay by Ken Nolan and Steve Zaillian, working from a book by Mark Bowden, understands the material and tells it so clearly and efficiently that we are involved not only in the experience of the day but also in its strategies and unfolding realities. Works like Black Hawk Down help audiences comprehend and invest in the real experiences of combat troops, rather than dispensing them into formula entertainments.