War

Rating: 7/10 (10 February 2002)

This movie is not about which side was right or which side was wrong in Somali Civil War. It's not also about to tell if General Aidid was a popular leader or a wretched criminal and oppressor of his own people. It´s not about patriotism either which would be a very easy choice. And last but not least it's not about to tell if U.S. aim at intervening there was truly humanitarian or moved by economical or political or strategical purposes. This movie is about war. War that could happen in any part of the world. As one of main characters says in the end (I cannot recall the exact words): if you are asked why you are in this war you may answer that you are here because of the guy by your side. Which means that this movie is also and above all about friendship, comradeship and solidarity during fighting. In fact the most moving moments of the movie are those when those guys tried to help wounded or dying comrades under heavy fire with total abnegation and at risk of their own lives. Technically it's an almost perfect movie, one of the 5 or 6 best war movies ever made. All the scenes are extremely realistic and true in every detail and you feel yourself moving around those streets of a Somali city and almost taking part in the fighting yourself since you are so close to those men that you can almost touch them and feel their breaths. And we come come to the usual conclusion in the end: wars are cruel, useless and irrational.