Rebuttal for Daniel

Rating: Null/10 (29 August 2004)

Daniel from France, I must post after reading yours.
In my point of view, war is bad. So I prefer movies which criticize this activity.
-Yes of course, war is bad. The US should never have invaded Normandy to liberate France from the Nazis. This movie was about the soldiers who fought and died Somalia. Do you criticize the Somali woarlords who stole the U.N. food aid for the starving people there?
Like someone said : it's a "pop-corn movie" with no ideological purposes. Except of course, the soldier's macho friendship as the ultimate life value. In the movie, every soldier is obsessed to be useful and says : "Yes Sarge, I can't fight ! I want to go back to fight !". And the classical "war cliché" (present in every war movie since the 50's) : "Say to my wife I was courageous ! - You will say it to her yourself !" and the soldier dies.
-How would you know about fighting? France hasn't won a war by themselves in 180 years. To think so many Americans died 60 years ago so you can say "pop-corn movie". Please do not dishonor their memory. What they said in the movie is pretty much what they said in real life.
Frankly, where is the originality ? Some say the movie is almost a documentary. Are you kidding ? The historical frame is ejected in one minute after the movie starts. The enemy ? End titles say there were 19 killed US soldiers , and about 1000 killed Somalis. And what this movie shows us about the Somalis warriors ? Nothing ! They are just targets, with no personality, no humanity, they are "objects", like in a shoot-them-up video game. Like the monsters in "Aliens" or "Starship troopers". Soldiers US are the goods, the others are the villains. But the reality is more complex.
-Somali warriors??? They were thugs and rapists who murdered other Somalis who dared challenge them. They stole the food the U.N. sent to feed the starving Somali people. You want to see their humanity??? I have news for you Daniel, they had no humanity. They were cockroaches. You are defending vermin. Typical of the French. The movie focused on the soldiers. Why would it give time to the criminal thugs??
Don't misunderstand me ! I'm french, but I'm not giving a judgment about American policy, but about a movie. And the base of this movie is stereotypes. Sometimes, I like stereotypes ! Like everybody. I like "Rambo" (really !) but it's fictional ! And if BHD would have been a fiction, directed by Peter McDonald or Roland Emmerich, I would be OK. But I was waiting a little more from a director like Ridley Scott and more from a movie about a real event.
-I know you are French. Thats why I feel sorry for you. This movie isn't about stereotypes. Its about men who fought for each other when our own socialist coward of a President wouldn't fight for them. They fought and died in a place you wouldn't even want to defecate in. They did it to feed and protect innocent dying starving Somalis. This movie honors those men. It is about honor and sacrifice. Something the French forgot when the Nazis were marching under L'arc de Triomphe.
So it's really a very good action movie, (among the bests, I admit it) but it's not a "great philosophical analysis" about the war or about an historical event.
-This movie is one of the few movies made that portrays the brotherhood soldiers have when faced with insurmountable odds. It does not insult them nor make them antagonists. It was never meant to be an "action" movie. There isn't much "great philosophical analysis" when an entire city is trying to kill you. Please read the book Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War by Mark Bowden. You will understand much, much more about this saga. If you are offended by my comments, I am sorry, I am offended by yours.