Raw

Rating: Null/10 (21 March 2002)

This film is just about the closest Hollywood has ever done to creating a war documentary, which can make it a bit difficult to rate as one might a "regular" war movie. Unlike films like "Saving Pvt. Ryan" which created a fictional tale set in a larger, factual context, this movie shows us the actual men and actions over a hellish 15 hours in Somalia, the well known debacle in which 19 men were killed after a raid designed to capture some of Somalia's worst warlords went awry.
First off, I want to address a few criticisms leveled here, most of them coming from left wingers and assorted Euro-trash who seem to have a knee-jerk negative reaction to pretty much anything the American military does. One, though made in co-operation with the Pentagon (like, Duh!, where else are they gonna get all those expensive helicopters?) it is hardly a propaganda piece, if anything, the incident was a major embarrassment to our military, so much so that then Secretary of Defense Les Aspin was fired because of it. The men were sent in unprepared (bad Intel) and without the proper equipment (which was more of a political decision). The men themselves comported themselves bravely (this being no more than historical fact) yet their leaders were often indecisive, vacillating over how to react as one, then a second, chopper got shot down. I myself was practically screaming for additional helicopter gunship support for the beleaguered men, yet for some reason it was used very sparingly even as the guys on the ground were being cut to ribbons.
Next is the "race" issue. True, far more Somalis were killed than Americans, but as the film shows, the vast majority of these were the warlord's armed thugs, not helpless civilians. Unlike the Viet Cong, the Serbs or even the Nazis, these men were not fighting for any sort of cause other than simply satisfying their own greed. The warlords and their armed mobs (they are not worthy of being dignified with the title of "soldier") got rich by plundering the relief supplies that were supposed to go to famine victims. The film accurately portrays these people as the vermin they are, and I must admit my favorite scene was when (finally!) American gunships popped in that night and hosed them down by the dozens with rockets and miniguns. Harsh as it may sound, it was morally satisfying to see these human scumbags exterminated like a bunch of roaches. And the people who can't see the difference between these parasites enriching themselves at the expense of their own people and the ordinary Somali civilians are simply not playing with a full deck.
Anyway, that aside, this film succeeds pretty much on every level. People may complain that the characters are not developed enough or that the larger geo-political issues are not explored further, but the movie was simply not intended to do either. Instead, its principal aim is to give a raw, visceral look at the actual events that took place on that fateful day. As others have noted, it takes the approach used in Pvt. Ryan and extends it over almost the entire film. If you want to experience modern close urban combat on a gut level, this delivers the goods in spades. At times I found it confusing, trying to figure out which guys were where, but that merely reflects the reality of the actual confusion. At one point, two soldiers are simply left behind, they'd been completely forgotten when their unit was ordered to move to the first crash site. Really, the only objection I can come up with is that, on a few occasions, Ridley Scott relies excessively of SFX and `artsy' shots, which I found to detract from the otherwise compelling gritty realism.
In the final analysis, I cannot really give this film the usual 1-10 scale rating, though it would rank at least a 7 if I did. Mr. Scott and his team of actors, cameramen, and effects guys do a fine job, but it's the story itself that makes this movie what it is. And, for that, we have a bunch of brave American soldiers to ultimately thank.