Compelling, profound look at modern warfare

Rating: 10/10 (23 March 2003)

Black Hawk Down is an important film to watch in these times of war. It vividly and brutally portrays what war is like in an era of computers, helicopters, far range missiles, and select highly trained soldiers, without ever losing it's touch with the human side of the story or falling back on cliché.
The film often feels like you're watching jazzed up news footage, with shaky news-camera type shot framing; the information always given bluntly through officers and soldiers giving orders. Thus, the profundity is taken from the visual cues, characters, and the chain of events of the story itself. The movie is extremely intense, the action and violence rarely stopping, yet unlike a lot of war films, it never feels gratuitous (shooting-for-the-heck-of-it-with-no-cinematic-reason), and the violence, special effects (crashing, building destruction, explosions) and gore don't look fake and are probably the most realistic fighting scenes I've ever seen. It all just adds to the realism and psuedo-documentary feel of the film. Suprisingly enough, it all helps the storyline as well.
You must pay attention or lose track of the storyline and characters (hint: keep an eye on their helmets, their names are written on the helmet band, and it proves VERY useful in keeping track of the characters). Unlike some war films, the many characters, despite their fairly divided and limited amount of screentime, endear themselves to the viewer, and the actors showcase some excellent acting. This isn't an acting film whatsoever, with very little scope, time, or material for the actors to create memorable characters, but this film seems to overcome that, and the acting is one of the shining points of the film. In one bloody and intense scene (and my favorite scene of the film), a young soldier (who we're inconspicuously acquainted with earlier in the film) is seriously wounded, and the ensuing scene, though intensely bloody and not `mushy', is also highly emotional. Scott and the actors just let the scene roll scene honestly and let it play out. The film is full of many such scenes, but it never once tries to manipulate your emotions. It is brutally honest and technical, sometimes confusing, but it was the news, is the stories of these men, and will one day be history.
But even more than the freshly conceived look at the human cost of the war and the amazing street fighting sequences, probably the most compelling and exciting aspect of the film is learning about what happened in Mogadishu and seeing how modern wars are fought. I had known almost nothing about it, but the film very clearly lays out what happened, and shows the tactics and dangers that modern soldiers face while going into hostile territory.

This film is an important look at modern life that will be a very important source for people in years to come, to see what modern combat is like. Ironically enough, a year after it was made, the world is seeing, live on the news, what modern war is made of. Hopefully it will shed some perspective on the dangers that our soldiers face on a day to day basis. It also shows how great filmmaker can still take an old subject and make it fresh and new, but most importantly, the film brilliantly shows that through the years human cost, bravery, suffering, and sacrifice hasn't and will not change.