Black Hawk Down

Black Hawk Down is a 2001 film by Ridley Scott, based on the book Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War about the Battle of Mogadishu, the U.S. military attempt of 1993 to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The movie stars Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom.

Plot

None.

Issues Raised

Some critics view the film as blatant propaganda on behalf of US military intervention. Unlike his earlier film G.I. Jane, Black Hawk Down received the full co-operation of the US military and Scott had to allow the military a veto over every aspect of the film in order to receive this level of military involvement. The role of the Somalis in the film is to die in anonymous waves like the Hollywood Indians of old westerns. The film is shot entirely from the point of view of the American soldiers and hence we do not learn about the vastly disproportionate number of Somalis killed on that day. This is in contrast to Mark Bowden’s book. Bowden is very candid about the extent of civilian casualties on October 3. He describes how the American troops opened fire on civilians as they put it “mowing down whole crowds of Sammies,” laughing when they blew a woman apart. He also admits that they took women and children hostage. Scott’s film does not show these hostages and pays very little attention to civilian casualties.

The making of the film

Most part of the film where shot in Morocco

References

• Scott, Ridley (2001). Black Hawk Down. Sony Pictures Entertainment. Culver City, California (USA).

External links

• Black Hawk Down at the Internet Movie Database
• Category at ODP
• RottenTomatoes.com film page
• [1]
• [Mark Bowden, Black Hawk Down, Bantam Press, 1999]