Hyperkinetic account of modern warfare

Rating: 10/10 (20 March 2003)

The story : in the 1993 UN intervention in the Somali civil war US troops get ambushed in Mogadishu during a raid to capture local warlord Aideed. They must fight their way out of the hostile city, under constant assault from thousands of Aideeds warriors and Somali civilians.
I remember reading about this incident and thinking that this would make an interesting topic for a modern warmovie but frankly, I'd never expected something like this.

Based on the book by Mark Bowden, it's a painstaking accurate retelling of the actual raid. Prepare yourself for a breathtaking, blistering brilliant account of non-stop mayhem and carnage, limbs getting blown off, hundreds of casualties and more ammunition spent then on a dozen recent action movies combined. BHD makes `The Wild Bunch' seem like The `Sound of Music'.
BHD is near too perfection : direction, acting, production values, editing, photography and script are almost flawless. It is so rich in detail and moves along at such speed you 'll need at least 2-3 viewings to get a full grasp of the full chain of events. It may be confusing sometimes but so is a real war. The battlescenes are exceptionally well handled by Ridley Scott ,on the top of his craft here, turning out one of the best movies of his long career (Alien, Hannibal, Gladiator, 1492, Thelma and Louise, etc...) It almost looks like a bunch of vets did the whole raid all over again.
The DVD offers off-screen commentary by Bowden himself and some of the actual vets who that went through the ordeal, so movie must be pretty accurate.

A good thing producer Bruckheimer decided on shooting (sic) the whole thing in Morocco instead of some Hollywood back lot (and that he didn't choose Ridley's brother Tony to direct or we'd stuck with a Club Med commercial with some blood 'n guts thrown in).

Movie has some big stars like Ewan Mcgregor and Josh Harnett, but they are hardly recognisable between all the shootings and explosions. But Shepard is distinguishable as General Harrison, the CO who took full responsibility for the mess. Also Tom Sizemore as the convoy commander and William Richter as some kind of super Delta warrior stand out.
BHD is almost an updated version of the old-style colonial war movies where a small number of white soldiers pitched against thousands of hostile natives. One of the best in this 'genre' is "Zulu" (1964) and also based on the true life event of the Battle of O'Rourke Drift in 1879 South-Africa, where a handful of British soldiers must fight off a few thousands Zulu warriors. Michael Caine's breakthrough movie !
One minor remark though on the reality bit : these high-tech soldiers are sure a far cry for the thugs and ragtag grunts seen in `Platoon' or `Casualties of War' and whose main concern was getting laid or scoring some dope. These model Rangers and Delta Force (cool outfit !) troops are all such clean-cut and wholesome guys, spending their free time playing chess and scrabble, reading John Grisham novels and getting high, haha, on coffee. Yeah, right.

Is BHD the best war movie ever made ? Perhaps not, but it sure comes close.
Ah yes, all this lamenting from fellow IMDb reviewers on the lack of characterization : you want characterization ? Go see `The Hours' instead.