A very good action movie, that's all.

Rating: 6/10 (13 August 2004)

In my point of view, war is bad. So I prefer movies which criticize this activity.
This is not the intend of this movie. Nevertheless, I must admit it doesn't contain too much "patriotic-propaganda", like I was fearing it.
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.
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.
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.
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.
7/10