Black Hawk Down gets it right

Rating: 10/10 (26 January 2002)

As a history major in college and pure film guru I long for historically accurate films of real events that do not insert cornball Hollywood dialogue and or change real events to "make a better story". Films about historical combat events have traditionally fallen victim to this scenario. Only a handful of films about war/combat have been made that break away from this mold. Tora Tora Tora!, Hamburger Hill, Paths of Glory, and Das Boot are some of the best war/combat films that get it right when it comes to accurately depicting real combat experiences and events. Black Hawk Down also belongs in this group.
I have read the non-fiction book of the same name that the film is based on. Yes there are some composite characters but the film is still 98 percent accurate to the events of 10-3-93. The Ewen Mcgregor character is based on a real Ranger who was a desk jockey and had missed combat in both Panama and the Gulf War and was a last minute replacement on the Somali Mission. It is not a cliché, as some reviews have said, to depict a soldier dying from a leg wound because they do and it did happen true to fact as it is depicted in BHD.
The movie is apolitical. Facts are facts. The Clinton DOD did nix the request by General Garrison for Armor and C-130 Gunships because they did not want the public to think we were fighting a war. Sound familiar? I am a registered Independent that leans toward a libertarian approach to domestic and foreign policy. Personally I think we never should have been in Somalia or Viet Nam or Korea or WWI. But as the son of a Viet Nam Combat Veteran (173 AirBorne Division, who was incountry during the Tet Offensive)I have great respect for our armed forces. That is what BHD is all about. It pays respect to the Delta Commandos, Army Rangers, and Black Hawk Pilots who fought and died on 10-3-1993 by accurately depicting their actions for what they truly were, heroic men fighting for each other. This is what the Eric Bana Character says at the end of the film in such a succinct yet eloquent way. His observation that "some people just don't get it" obviously still rings true as some of the reviews of BHD have illustrated.