Blow by Blow cinematic account of the debacle in 1993 when the Americans attacked militants in Mogadishu. Overextended, bloody and a little slow. 3 Flys Out Of Five

Rating: Null/10 (16 February 2002)

Pretty much in the `war is hell' category, Black Hawk Down seeks to outline what it was like for the American troops in Mogadishu Somalia in October 1993, a battle which saw the deaths of 18 Americans, the wounding of 70 Americans and the deaths of about 1000 Somalis. The Americans had been supporting a U.N. sponsored operation aimed at stopping the genocide occurring in Somalia.
The Americans attacked a Somali warlord's stronghold attempting to capture two leaders of a group said to be withholding aid from the starving Somali population. They had been mounting such operations repeatedly over the preceeding months, activities which had left the Mogadishu population unhappy.
In the Americans go from their base at the Mogadishu airport into the Bakara Market area, a hornet's nest of militia fighters. The American troops were transported by four lightly armoured Black Hawk helicopters accompanied by an armoured car convoy and support copters. The idea was to nip in quickly late in the afternoon, grab the bad guys and be home for tea.
Unfortunately the Somalis were far better organised and armed than the Americans imagined. The Somalis were also overwhelmingly motivated against the Americans. The opposing clan militias amongst the lawless Mogadishu population had united against a common enemy.
Black Hawk Down attempts to accurately recreate some aspects of the conflict, concentrating on the fraught situation in which the U.S.A. soldiers found themselves. It became a very bloody and dangerous fight for survival, a battle between a relatively few superiorly armed soldiers against an angry civilian population in a lawless country run by militias.

The Americans got their noses very bruised and the experience has made them even more wary of street battles. Somalia is still a tragically lawless and impoverished area.
The film stumbles because of its attempt to be factual. The behind the series generals seem too calm in the context of the film and the story lines tend to blur particularly from a time elapsed point of view. The action seems repetitive but I suppose that getting 1000 people killed one or two at a time takes up some celluloid.
The events are bloodied but became distant rather than affecting, but then perhaps Black Hawk Down is less Hollywood than some in the genre. Black Hawk Down certainly suffers much less from the Stars And Stripes patriotism than some movies such as Behind Enemy Lines, but it does drag on a little as an entertainment.
A riveting account of the battle can be found at http://inquirer.philly.com/packages/somalia/ . This contains video and audio accounts from participants in the battle including some by Somalis.
3 Bloody Flys Out Of Five