In 2001, producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Armageddon) and Gladiator director Ridley Scott teamed up to film an American trauma: the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu. Black Hawk Down was heralded as an anti-war film by Scott, but the film was harshly criticized upon release. Today you can watch it on Kabel Eins.
Black Hawk Down is based on real life events from 1993
A civil war is raging in the East African country of Somalia. UN and US troops are on the ground to take action against militia leader Mohammed Farah Aidid. When the military found out about a meeting of his supporters, they came up with a plan: in the operation code-named “Irene,” special units were to arrest two of his top advisers in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Which also works. But the convoy comes under fire and two Black Hawk helicopters crash in the middle of the city. The soldiers are on their own in enemy territory and the struggle for survival begins.
Universal
Josh Hartnett in Black Hawk Down
Black Hawk Down is based on Mark Bowden’s non-fiction book of the same name about the catastrophic deployment of US troops. The “Battle of Mogadishu” is estimated to have claimed the lives of up to 1,000 Somalis, including innocent civilians, while 18 American soldiers died. Images of the bodies of Americans being dragged through Mogadishu went around the world. For then US President Bill Clinton, the failed mission became his “Vietnam”, a debacle in which local militias exposed a superpower internationally.
Black Hawk Down films the story with lots of familiar faces
Black Hawk Down thrives on a large cast of poorly defined characters, which is why director Ridley Scott and his casting department rely on expressive familiar (and later famous) faces. The most prominent actors in the film include Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Tom Hardy, Orlando Bloom, later Hulk Eric Bana, Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Hannibal leading actor Hugh Dancy.
Other roles include popular character actors such as William Fichtner (Armageddon), Sam Shepard (The Assassination of Jesse James…), Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter), Tom Sizemore (Heat), Željko Ivanek (The Last Duel) and Ewen Bremner (Trainspotting) occupied.
Universal
Black Hawk Down
The occupation sometimes trained for weeks, which was done under the direction of the military. Black Hawk Down was also supported by the US Army in terms of material. No Somali actors were involved, nor were Somalis consulted.
Criticism rained down when it was released – but the war film is still worth seeing
The reviews were mostly positive, the immersive staging, which plunges the audience into chaos together with the soldiers, was praised. But the film was also controversial. Recurring criticisms include:
A cast member accused Jerry Bruckheimer of propaganda
Even actor Brendan Sexton (El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie), who plays a ranger in the film, opposed the film shortly after it opened. “[Produzent] Jerry Bruckheimer made millions producing propaganda,” Sexton explained in 2002 (via Salon). According to his statements, the presence of the US soldiers in the script was critically questioned, and these scenes were cut for the film.
Black Hawk Down is still worth seeing. On the one hand, like Saving Private Ryan before him, he shaped the style of more recent war films. On the other hand, Black Hawk Down can also be viewed as a picture of its time, which is possibly more meaningful than many a successful anti-war film (if such a thing exists).
The film premiered in December 2001, a few months after the September 11 terrorist attacks and the beginning of the Afghan war. He describes the failure of a meaningless mission as a heroic act of self-abandonment by his heroes. A few years in, Black Hawk Down seems prophetic about American intervention after 9/11.
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