unflinching and disturbing war film

Rating: 9/10 (1 June 2008)

'Black Hawk Down,' a riveting account of a US Special Forces raid into Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993 has come under criticism from various quarters, but not for reasons that are substantial or even make much sense. One of the Somalian warlords captured in the raid says it is not truthful because his party was in one car, not a convoy of three, and that only Somalian women wear earrings, not the men. Malaysian authorities are upset that their contribution is minimized (shades of the Brits and 'Objective, Burma') and assorted critics claim the film misrepresents the Somali people and is 'pro-war.' If 'Black Hawk Down' does not portray the situation in Somalia with complete accuracy, it is surely only in those things that films traditionally take license with, just as is done when compressing a 500-page novel into a two-hour screen entertainment. The salient facts are there; what you see in the movie is essentially what happened during those horrific hours between the time the raid started and the US forces, the ones that survived, were finally extracted. In fact, I daresay 'Black Hawk Down' is a great deal more accurate than the vast majority of war films based on true stories. Somalia has not had a functioning central government since 1991. It is more an area than a nation; numerous warring factions fought and continue to fight for control and the general populace are often caught in the crossfire. Many of them habitually chew khat, a plant with amphetamine-type effects. As portrayed in the film, many civilians are, frankly, stoned, some of them to the point of appearing zombie-like. Whether or not this is an accurate representation, I will leave to the experts, but it does not seem an unreasonable portrayal to me. As for being 'pro-war,' that seems an odd criticism. If depicting a military operation in which US soldiers are killed, sometimes brutally, and where so many aspects of that operation went terribly wrong, and in which the conclusion can hardly be considered a 'happy ending'... if all that qualifies a film to be considered 'pro-war,' well I guess it is. Doesn't seem that way, though. 'Black Hawk Down' is, however, a nail-bitingly tense movie that at times has the nightmarish feeling of a horror film; it shares many of the same qualities. Generally, I think, it is the feeling that help is so close but tantalizingly out of reach. Director Ridley Scott once again uses his considerable talents, this time to paint a picture of a region on earth that has fallen back from a state of civilization into a vicious, lawless condition, where gangs run by warlords make the rules, control food, water, and medicine, and mete out their own murderous form of 'justice.' I suppose the one recurring thought that kept running through my head as I watched was, what the hell are our soldiers doing there? I recommend this movie for the raw power of its images and its realistic depiction of a horrific situation, but be advised it is very unsettling.