A very dark and gritty war film

Rating: 9/10 (16 June 2013)

I've seen this film three times now, and after the second time felt that it was your typical Hollywood revisionist film that attempts to turn a failed battle into another victory by the invincible United States army. However after watching it again last night I realised that this was not the case. In fact the film, despite changes to the scenario to make it more palpable for the viewing audience, shows the United States Army in a scenario where they have always found difficulties facing, and that is with guerrilla warfare.
I guess the reason I have come to that understanding is because at the beginning of the film there is a belief that the mission will only last an hour, and in fact we have soldiers removing metal plates from their Kevlar vests and not taking bottles of water simply because of the belief that they will be back in short order. Obviously this failure to prepare for the inevitable was one of the problems that they faced.
The mission to Somalia as a whole was pretty much deemed to be a failure. The original objectives was to attempt to restore order to a fragmented country and this has basically not happened. Somalia today is just as dangerous as it was back in the early nineties when the US led UN intervention force first arrived. In some ways it can be seen to be even worse now due to the infiltration of extreme Islamist militants, and is one of those countries, like Afghanistan, which can be considered a haven to terrorists. In fact the region around the Horn of Africa has become one of the most pirate infested waters in the world.
I can't say that Ridley Scott is one of my favourite directors, but that is probably because he is typically Hollywood, and in a way what this film does is that it does show some American success in what turned out to be a failed mission. They do say that this particular mission was a success because all of its objectives were met, however considering that the US military lost two Blackhawk Helicopters, and nineteen special forces soldiers were killed, thanks to a bunch of untrained militiamen who, according to one character, 'can't even shoot straight' makes one wonder about the definition of success, and whether they attempted to rewrite the events to gloss over the failures of the US army.