Black Hawk Down Review

Years ago, I read Mark Bowden’s novel Black Hawk Down. I found it engaging, powerful, and emotional. What made the novel such a successful was how well the author described the perspectives of the men who fought that long day battle in Somalia. Though it is usually unfair to compare the book to the movie (since the book is generally better), the film Black Hawk Down is a visually gripping adaptation. Like the novel, the sum of movie’s story is about how things go to hell in a handbag. This film is unlike most other war pictures. There is no hidden, anti-war propaganda like in Platoon. Nor is it even about heroism like Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan. Instead it is about trying to survive from the gates of hell, and working as a team to do so.

It is 1993. The Somali leader holds an iron fist over his people. 123 soldiers are sent to capture a warlord and his lieutenants. The operation is supposed to take no more than an hour. The mission immediately goes wrong when one of the soldiers falls from one of the helicopters. Medics rush in to take the injured soldier out of action. As this happens, the entire city turns on the US ground troops. Within less than an hour of fighting, two helicopters are shot down. It then becomes a game as to which platoon of soldiers can reach the crashed choppers and rescue any potential survivors. The phrase “No man left behind” took on a new meaning for me as more and more soldiers attempt to rescue these survivors (as well as the dead) at the expense of their own lives. In the end, the 19 American soldiers are dead and another 70 are wounded.

Like the novel, the movie has the tendency of jumping around a bit. This is intentional, for as the battle gets worse, the divisions of soldiers become separated and lost within a sea of hostiles. This puts our confusion with the characters. We feel for them for we don’t know what is going to happen next. Most of the time, we do not even know where they are within the city. The lack of radios and walkie talkies make it harder for the soldiers to communicate with another and the limited gear, such as no night vision goggles, body armor, or canteens, makes it all the worse.

Cinematographer Slawomir Idziak gives us the grittiness of the situation. The use of the handheld camera makes you feel as if you are right with the soldiers as bullets and RPGS whiz by. The various color filters used throughout the movie reiterates the grim and sad experience of death and destruction. For instance, the opening sequence of the dead and dying Somalis has a tungsten (blue) setting. This is an unusual filter to use for a desert location. It would seem more suitable to use bright, highly saturated colors. However, the use of the bluish tint creates a very forlorn, almost dreamlike experience. The green tint that is used during the night fighting in Mogadishu is not only reminiscent to night vision goggles, but it also creates a chilling feeling as the American soldiers desperately fight to survive.

The sound design puts a heavy emphasis on the gunshots and explosions. When an RPG is fired, you know when it is time to duck. The movie does not shy away from bloodshed either. Though not nearly as bad as Saving Private Ryan there are many grisly images. One that still sticks to my mind is when a soldier is blown in half by a RPG. Even worse, the man is still alive when he should not be. This was vividly described in the novel and it is more alarming to see on a TV screen. Scenes like these are not meant to make us feel nauseated, but rather it depicts the inhumanity of war. It is an emotionally draining experience as we watch such brutality.

The final shot of the film shows all the caskets of the soldiers who lost their lives. This poses an important question to the audience. Why? Why did this happen? Why didn’t the strategists plan for such an ambush? Why were we in Somali in the first place? By the end of the film, you cannot help but think of the lunacy as to why all these men were maimed and killed.