BLACK HAWK DOWN

(December 2001, U.S.)

I hadn't seen BLACK HAWK DOWN in nearly ten years and I'd forgotten what a virtual all-star cast of our time it features; Josh Hartnett, Ewen McGregor, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner, Jeremy Piven, Ewen Bremner and Sam Shepard. Did you know that four of these guys had been together in PEARL HARBOR only seven months earlier? Did you know that as much as I hate to give an actor like Josh Hartnett credit for anything he does, his performance as a modern United States soldier is as good as any other military portrayel I've seen on screen? Who would have thought?

Except for APOCALYPSE NOW (1979), every war film I've discussed to date has been of World War II. To watch BLACK HAWK DOWN is to watch a different kind of war with a different kind of soldier. The American soldier of 1993 at the Battle of Mogadishu is angrier for being involved in this bloody civil war of Somalia and he's more pissed off at the enemy that wants to kill him. The one thing that doesn't change, however, is that he's just as determined to do the right thing for his fellow soldier and for the honor of his country. Watching this film is also a change in my attitude toward the enemy in question. Although our German and Japanese enemies are clear in films of World War II, it becomes easy after a while to remind one's self that these enemies are also soldiers of their country doing the job they've been ordered to do, whether they support it or not. The enemy in BLACK HAWK DOWN are violent, bloodthirsty Somali militias who provoke the dark, ugly part of myself which cannot help but silently cheer, "Die, you motherfuckers!" every time one of our boys takes them down.

Director Ridley Scott takes us right into the gut of battle like I've never seen before. The bullets and the blood fly endlessly in front of your eyes without ever letting up. At times, this doesn't feel like a motion picture at all, but rather a documentary that's been captured right in the heart of battle. I also couldn't help but notice an obvious homage to APOCALYPSE NOW with a scene of battle helicopters flying over the ocean like angry hornets.

A final interesting observation - in a period of just over one year, from 2000 to 2001, Ridley Scott made three films - GLADIATOR, HANNIBAL and BLACK HAWK DOWN; all of them box office hits. Not too shabby.

Favorite line or dialogue:

Hoot: "When I go home people'll ask me, "Hey Hoot, why do you do it man? What, you some kinda war junkie?" You know what I'll say? I won't say a goddamn word. Why? They won't understand. They won't understand why we do it. They won't understand that it's about the men next to you, and that's it. That's all it is."