***1/2 (out of ****)
Starring Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner, Eric Bana, Sam Shepherd, Ewen Bremer, Jason Isaacs, and Ioan Gruffold.
Directed by Ridley Scott. Written by Ken Nolan from the book by Mark Bowden.
2001 R
Dozen-or-So Best Films of 2001
Ridley Scott’s “Black Hawk Down,” in the tradition of Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan,” is a chronicle of men in combat. It is not especially interested in being a political or historical document. It gives us an historical outline of the civil war in Somalia, enough to understand the involvement of the UN and the Red Cross. But we suspect there is more to the entire situation and “Black Hawk Down” does not present us with any ready-made political solution. Watching “Black Hawk Down” is like reading the best chapter in a very long history book, from somewhere in the middle: empires rise and empires fall, but what is remembered is the courage of the few who stood against the many. “Black Hawk Down” is about the bravery and perseverance of American soldiers who may have questioned the US’s involvement in Somalia, but did not hesitate to enter, or even return to, the jaws of death in order to rescue their comrades.
“Black Hawk Down” begins with a quick history lesson for those of us who were either too young or too lazy to remember much of 1992 and 1993 (I am guilty on both counts). Tribal warfare in Somalia has destroyed the nation. Why? “Black Hawk Down” is the chapter in history that comes after why. Starvation is running rampant and the United Nations and the Red Cross enter Somalia to deliver food. Muhammed Ferrah Aidid, a Somali warlord, steals the food so that the starving masses will remain subjugated. So the US decides to kidnap, if not Aidid, at least his lieutenants, to help put an end to the starvation.
Those in areas controlled by Aidid hate the American presence. Maybe Aidid’s Somalis are offended that we’re making their fight ours, maybe those under Aidid are especially offended that we aren’t taking his side, maybe they think we’re attacking Islam, maybe they think we’re going to turn Somalia into a spiritually-dead, commercialized clone of America, or maybe they don’t believe us when we say colonialism is over (it only died about fifty or sixty years ago, after a six-hundred year lifespan). “Black Hawk Down” does not give a reason for the overwhelming hatred Aidid’s Somalis feel for the American soldiers, maybe because there is no consensus about that even today. The two or three Somalis within the film that speak English aren’t exactly concise. What “Black Hawk” gives us is a soldier saying that politics don’t matter, it’s just the man next to you, an echo of “The Thin Red Line,” in which a soldier volunteers for a dangerous mission not because he thinks it’s a good idea, but because he wants to be there in case anything goes wrong for the others going.
That’s about where we meet our protagonists, a group of Delta Force and Army Rangers, and naturally they mull over the rightness of US involvement in someone else’s fight. They’re excited to enter the fray and kidnap a couple of bad dudes who like to starve people. Writer Ken Nolan give us the plan of the soldiers but doesn’t beat us over the head with it; those familiar with military jargon and abbreviations will be especially pleased, while those of us who are not are given a general idea of the movement of troops, helicopters, and Hummers. Director Scott’s achievement in “Black Hawk Down” is to keep us constantly informed of which group of soldiers is where, where the enemy is and in what number. When things go wrong, we understand why and where. And things do go seriously wrong when the soldiers encounter much heavier resistance than expected. The bulk of the film is hard, urban combat, leading to gore on the level of “Glory” and almost “Saving Private Ryan.”
But “Black Hawk Down” is not simply a re-creation of the “hows” and “wheres” of these fighting men. The movie focuses more on the men as a group as opposed to individual characters, but their courage and personalities shine forth as they go back again and again for fallen soldiers, even in the face of crashed US helicopters, rapidly-exhausting ammunition, large numbers of wounded, and a city of thousands bent on their destruction. Josh Hartnett, so adrift in “Pearl Harbor,” redeems himself with an understated performance as an idealistic staff sergeant. Ewan McGregor is a desk jockey thrust behind a machine gun who handles himself as best he can. Tom Sizemore is his opposite, an officer so unfazed by combat that he echoes Robert Duvall in “Apocalypse Now” in his refusal to duck when things around him explode. And Eric Bana, a familiar face but never in a role this large, is the Ranger who espouses the soldier’s need to forget diplomacy and fight for the man next to you.
Aside from its political vagueness I have a few aesthetic qualms with “Black Hawk Down.” Scenes with the soldiers the night before the mission are unremarkable and could have been taken from a dozen other war movies. There is also a barrage of music throughout the film without any recurrent theme, first an almost endless parade of rock music, then an overdone, “everywhere-all-at-once” score by Hans Zimmer when a more withdrawn approach, as he had in “The Thin Red Line,” might have been more appropriate. Cutting and music deaden the emotional blow of many scenes when silence and long takes would have been more heart-wrenching. No one place ever seems to be onscreen long enough for us to soak up much sense of ambience. But these are minor complaints; “Black Hawk Down” is a powerful and emotional film about courage defeating despair. When the non-Aidid Somalis cheer over the return of the Americans to the UN safe zone, we want to cheer, too, for these ragged, exhausted, dogged men who have almost become one with the rifles stuck to their arms. “Black Hawk Down” is one of the best films of 2001.
Copyright 2002 Friday & Saturday Night