This may be my favorite modern war movie...

Rating: Null/10 (15 June 2004)

What I think makes "Black Hawk Down" stand out from other modern war classics, and this generally refers to war films dealing with anything about or after Vietnam, is its grittiness and realism. I love war films and have seen many, but I always walk away feeling disconnected, but this film helped me understand. With "Apocalypse Now" it was the utter surrealism of the experience. The film is a surreal, mystical, acidic trip through Vietnam, and while it is a beautiful film, too much is about the imagery and surrealism of the story. With "Saving Private Ryan" there was too much focus on the characters and their development. It was a film about how people react to war far more then about war itself.
That's what I loved about "Black Hawk Down"--it was a war film about war. I have also read the book and despite the small changes (Eversmann leaves with the initial convoy), I feel the film still carries the spirit of the book and story. It never cheapens the integrity of the soldiers or makes their sacrifice seem unimportant. In fact, I think the film stands a testament to their bravery and courage and casts more negative light on those in command.
There is minimal character development and while there are lead characters, the actors' screen time is very evenly spaced. There are also no female characters, which I greatly enjoyed, because love stories often detract from the point of the film and are just thrown in for shallow commercialism--fine most of the time, but not when dealing with a subject like this one. The focus of this film is not on one specific character, but on the men as a whole and the war that surrounds them.
And I think this film offers one of the most honest interpretations of war, and might be one of the most straight-forward anti-war film ever made. There is propaganda and jingoism--how could there not be when this battle was considered a national tragedy? But I mainly walked away from this film feeling as if war accomplishes nothing. I felt for the Somalis, I felt for the soldiers forced to do a job whether they believed in it or not, and I resented Washington and their negligence towards human life--but that's war. There are no winners or losers, everyone suffers, and I think this film summed that up perfectly.
The film was also done beautifully. The photography is truly stunning in some places, and the contrast of harsh sunlight and dark shadows parallels the characters' inner struggles throughout the battle. The photography is clear and almost arty in places, yet it never seems out of place. For example, when the first helicopter crashes and the shot immediately fades from the crash site to the JOC's view of the crash site, the photography trick doesn't seem gratuitous--it simply points out how disconnected the JOC is from the soldiers on the ground. I enjoyed similar moments throughout the film, like Grimes' eye, symbolizing the soldier's-eye-view of the war and how it affected those actually fighting.
But most of all I felt this film explained war how it is, ugly and painful, even for the victors. It shed some light on American foreign policy, even more applicable with the situation in Iraq these days. But most of all it provided a view of war without resorting to cheap tricks, gratuitous violence, or a simpering love story--difficult in Hollywood these days, but much appreciated by myself.