Black Hawk Down

Preview Screening

When I came out of the film and asked what I thought, I replied, "Greatest documentary I've ever seen." What I mean was that this was not a Film, with a capital F, because to say that evokes concepts such as entertainment, enjoyment, emotional connection with characters, touching on common human concepts. This film was like being put in the middle of the battle for two and a half hours, which to my mind can never be called enjoyable.

Telling the events surrounding a military incursion into the militia-held Mogadishu in Somalia in 1993 that went badly wrong, the audience is subjected to 200 minutes worth of modern day combat, as recreated by the acclaimed director, Ridley Scott. We witness, essentially, the Normandy landing at the beginning of Saving Private Ryan, but for an entire film. This film isn't giving us a new idea (war is hell, particularly now, with the technology and accessibility of weapons). What it does do, very effectively, is show us what it is like to be a soldier in a modern setting. We have seen the horror of Vietnam and WWII, but there is a distance of history that disconnects us. The relevancy makes the intensity more immediate. There are some horrific images and there were many disgusted cries from the audience when witnessing the almost casual mutilation, which is a good thing; the violence was not titillating, it was real and the effects evident.

To talk about the film in of itself, Ridley Scott has created an amazing piece of cinema, placing the audience at ground zero and never letting up the pace or the tension. The actors all hold their own admirably in what is an ensemble piece. British actors (and an Aussie) do some fine American accents, and the recognition factor of certain faces helped to keep a line on who was who in the film. Tom Sizemore, who was also in Saving Private Ryan, the obvious forerunner to this film, stood out if only for the deliberately insouciant air with which he strolled around the combat zone. Playing a captain who had seen action, it showed the attitude of a true soldier who, having seen men die before him and realizing that death could come from anywhere, would just stand up and do his job, not looking for cover, because a bullet can come from anywhere in an urban fire zone with thousands of militia surrounding them.

The documentary structure also doesn't allow for any let up in the tension, or such cinematic relief-valves such as comedy or 'quiet moments of truth' (where mostly inarticulate men suddenly become eloquent poets). The only let-up from the fighting is when we see some field surgery on a bullet wound to the leg, the likes of which you never saw on M*A*S*H. It's not until the film finishes and the lights come up that you are able to relax.

The only niggle I have is with the seeming dichotomy of the film; the documentary feel achieved the desired affect of placing us in combat for the duration of the film, but the picture itself seems to want to be a piece of entertaining cinema. Having scenes where helicopters take off to the sounds of "Voodoo Child", or children running and laughing to indicate what the soldiers are fighting for, seem incongruous within the confines of a chillingly accurate recreation of a real life combat situation.

The one heart-warming feeling to come out of the film? That there are people who are willing to fight as a modern soldier instead of me. Don't get me wrong; I don't condone war or killing for one's government, or 'wars on terror'. I have very little time for people who want to be soldiers (in the UK, 'squadies pubs', bars frequented by soldiers from the local barracks, were avoided like the plague as being hostile and violent) and I am not flag waving for the 'battle' in Afghanistan. But I understand the need for soldiers, and I must respect them for what they do, and this film helped that feeling.

Rating: DAVE