Best movie about guerrila warfare ever

Rating: 8/10 (20 January 2002)

I had heard about this movie since about October of 2001. The fact that Ridley Scott was directing was exciting enough, but the fact that this was about the 1993 battle in Moghadishu, Somalia was all the more reason to see this. I vividly remember Somalis dragging our dead shirtless soldiers through the street like they were a piece of meat and was thoroughly p***ed off by that. Many in the press at the time called that a failure of our special forces, which I did not buy; I thought that our special forces did well, but it's the men in Washington (especially Clinton) who messed up.
Before seeing this movie, I saw Lord of the Rings and thought that that was one of the only movies of 2001 worth seeing. I now have to place "Black Hawk Down" in this category as well. This movie captures everything about the hell of war as well as US intervention in other countries. Yes, we can make similarities to "Private Ryan", but this movie hits closer to home because a. it speaks about the type of war we are now used to (guerrila warfare), which really doesn't have a winner and b. the fact that we are facing a current war now.
Most films on war so far have dealt with the conventional war that we are used to seeing. A possible exception may be "Platoon", about the Vietnam war, but I really count that as a conventional war because we had a defined enemy. This movie, on the other hand, deals with an unexpected confrontation with an enemy that really had no face--a true guerrila war. The movie spares nothing to the imagination. I myself felt lost in parts of Moghadishu with the soldiers; the film makes you relate with what it was like to try to find your way to a downed helicopter while having to fight an enemy that you couldn't really see or identify. What is was like to be forgotten and find your way to your company in a mindfield of people who were after you. What it was like to see people you worked with blown apart by rockets while having to fight the faceless enemy. I could go on, but I'll let you see the film instead. I was also surprised by the fact that they did show the dead american soldiers being dragged through the streets, and quite frankly, as disturbing and sickening as it was, I'm glad they did to show how chaotic it was.
And the best part of the film is that none of this is glorified. We are not seeing Rambo blowing the Somalis to smithereens while he never sustains a scratch and able to escape a situation with his brute strength. We instead see and feel what it is like to fight a real war and be pinned down, even when you are the best of the best. I give a lot of credit to Ken Nolan (screenwriter) and Ridley Scott for not venturing into Hollywood territory. Ridley himself wanted to make this film a documentary, and has done a beautiful job at doing that. I was almost scared that it would when I saw that Jerry Bruckheimer was producing the film.
As for the cast, excellent job by all. Yes, Tom Sizemore, Ewan McGregor, and Josh Harnett are in it, but as far as I'm concerned, they did their job; they made me believe that they were the soldiers fighting this war.
Now let me deal with some of the criticism I have read about the film. Some have said that it doesn't allow for characterization. I think that is thorough B.S. Watching this film, you ARE with the Special Forces/Delta Force, and though you won't remember the names of all the characters in the film, that works to the film's advantage because to us, they are any Tom, Dick, and Harry that we know on the street, not some superhuman commando portrayed by a faux hero like Arnold. We empathize more with them. Second, some will say that this movie is racist because it shows black guys fighting against white guys. Hey, this isn't the US; it is Somalia, and everyone there is black. And most of the special Forces were indeed white (from what I understand, only 2 of the commandos were African Americans, and one is portrayed in this film).
I say that this should get at least a nomination for best picture and best director, if not win in these two categories.
Finally, this movie should be recommended viewing for the entire public and especially to the beauracrats in Washington; the beauracrats should know what it's like to send our forces into an area that they barely know and into a war that is not ours. I never blamed the troops for what happened; they were just doing what they were ordered to do, and they did it superiorly in the situation they were in. Instead, I blame draft-dodgers like Clinton for putting them in such a hot situation without thinking things out.
I've always had respect for our men in armor, and this movie is a testamen t to those who put their lives on the line for their country. God bless the 18 soldiers who left us and the United States Armed forces.