This is why the rest of the world will never understand the U.S.

Rating: 6/10 (6 February 2002)

I have always found it interesting to see how films get hyped through the Hollywood machine. This is an event that no one cared about when it happened. Vietnam was an event that the majority of Americans didn't care about and it took the U.S. years to commit themselves to WWII. But now when you watch films made by Americans all you get to see is events that surround these times that are told through their eyes. And I guess that only makes sense when you are spending millions of dollars making the film and more millions marketing it. I mean, who would want to see a film where another country either does more than the U.S. does or at least helps them out? You can look at one of the great AMERICAN War films like Saving Private Ryan for example and poke holes in the entire beginning of the film ( were the Americans really the only ones on the beaches of Normandy?) But Hollywood can make jingoism like this and sell it to their patriots because this is what everyone wants to see. Rocky Balboa is not only spoke of with reverence as a character, he symbolizes the great American struggle, the good guy vs. the bad guy, the underdog vs. the favourite, David vs. Goliath. Black Hawk Down is a film that I'm sure has many accuracies to them, but you can't tell me that this is the whole story. We only get to hear things from an American point of view. That is always how it is. And that is fine, again, is any true patriotic, flag waving American going to want to see a film where the Americans aren't the heroes? Even though they are the big bad Americans, for some reason it is prudent for film makers to present them as the underdogs, the Davids, the Rockys. Now think about it, how funny is that?
I mention this in utter futility because I am Canadian and I realize I will never understand the true spirit of what it is like to be American so this film perhaps is not really made for me. But when people comment that a film like this is unflinching in it's realism because it shows us how the government betrayed it's soldiers and this is why so many died that day. Well here's a news flash for all of you. That theory has been going around for years and this is the not the first film to suggest that. But when it is mentioned in popcorn movies like Rambo, people just brush it off like it is just good entertainment. But mention it in Black Hawk Down and it all of a sudden becomes some hidden dogmatic like piece of information that we have never heard before ( let the soldiers do what they do best and all is right with the world, but once the politicians get involved, it is FUBAR). Does this sound familiar? I think Chuck Norris even had that theory in Missing In Action.
I do not really want to say to much more about this film. It served it's purpose, especially in the wake of 911. But it is films like this that upset the rest of the world at times because although this is an accurate depiction of what happened on the streets of Somalia, it is not a true depiction of why the U.S. was there and this is a microcosm of how sometimes the U.S. sticks it's nose into everyone elses business and how sometimes it can go wrong. But as one of the characters in Mississppi Burning said "Your in Mississippi now, the rest of the world don't mean s**t"." I'm sure that is how most Americans feel about the rest of the world.

America and American's need something to feel patriotic about and this is the perfect climate to stir up those feelings of patriotism and it let's the rest of the world know that you really are the home of the brave. I just don't know if this film is all that it is hyped to be.
Ridley Scott is a masterful director and he has made a good film, but, I guess me not being American, I just have a few more questions. Look at the positive reviews on this page and look at the not so positive reviews. Most of the reviews that praise this film are from Americans. Most that are like mine, are from people that don't live in the U.S. and will never understand what it is like to be American. That is not a good thing nor a bad thing, it is just what it is.
6 out of 10