One of the best war films ever--real, not based on a novel

Rating: Null/10 (19 January 2002)

Settle down in your seat and hold on. This movie, after a fairly brief scene setting, moves right into high gear. From the time the shooting starts, it is like the first 20 minutes of "Saving Private Ryan", but stretched out over the next hour and a half. This was a real event, not a plot from a novel. This is not any sanctimonious sermon like "Platoon". There is no flag waving. There is no political posturing--it is just a matter of the Rangers, Delta Force and pilots all trying their best to make sure they and their buddies get out alive--"leaving no man behind". For them, the only way out is to knock down every Somali militia man between them and the helicopter crash sites and ultimately, safety. And those Somalis just keep coming. The steadfast pursuit of the Americans by the Somalis, with no apparent regard for their own mortality, brings back scenes from "Zulu". The closest recent comparison for street-by-street battle was probaby the US Marines fighting to retake Hue's Citadel in 1968 Vietnam. The battle scenes are realistically portrayed, and the viewer does not even see that common war movie phenomena wherein the good guys appear to have an "endless magazine" for their weapons. These guys actually change magazines, run through them, then change again, and continue firing, ultimately having to conserve what little they have remaining (per the book, the Rangers and Delta did get one sorely needed ammo and medical resupply during the night of the actual battle). The noise is overwhelmingly and realistic loud (the nearly deaf machine-gunner was not a figment of the script-writer's imagination). I speak from experience as an infantryman in Vietnam. But I fortunately never had to run this kind of gauntlet for an extended period (few ever have). It should be required viewing for current and future military people, for it illustrates that "Murphy's Law" is often the companion of a military mission. It is at such a point that training, instincts, initiative and unit cohesiveness must kick in if the unit is to survive. This group of Rangers, Delta and the pilots supporting them demonstrated the concept in an extraordinary manner. A definite "10" rating.