Black Hawk Down Review
by Tim Wick
Does a movie suffer as a movie if you find yourself spending much of the
climactic battle wondering about the logistics involved in shooting the
battle and less about the actual story? More importantly, if this battle
sequence is - oh - about 90 minutes long, does it suffer more?
Well, if the movie is Black Hawk Down, I would say no.
There were moments in this film when I started to wonder how director Ridley
Scott managed to stage this incredibly realistic re-creation of a battle
involving over 100 soldiers, 8 helicopters, a dozen or so humvees and
countless civilians. In some films, this would be because the film was so
dull that I had little else to contemplate. In this film it is because the
execution was so remarkable that I couldn't help but wonder how it was done.
Just in case you are completely unaware of what this film is about, I will
give you the bare bones no spoiler plot synopsis. The film is about a
failed raid in the US occupation of Somalia in the early 90's. While I'm
certain that some segments of the films were changed for dramatic effect,
the majority is taken from survivor accounts of what took place. This film
is, ultimately, a very real re-creation of a single battle that most of us
know only from a few images on the television screen.
Many great films have been made that look at the great wars of history, but
our recent wars and police actions have seen comparatively little time on
screen. Even the wonderful Three Kings was not a depiction of the
fighting in Desert Storm, but the aftermath.
While not, in my opinion, a "great" film, Black Hawk Down certainly makes
modern warfare as real to a civilian as it can ever be. That could possibly
what makes it a very good movie rather than a really great one.
Thing is, there are about fifteen important characters in this film and
frankly, I couldn't keep them all straight. I knew some of these characters
would live and some would die, but I couldn't figure out who they were. Was
that guy the one who was doing the impersonation of his Captain or was he
the new kid in the unit? Was that other guy the one who called his wife? I
just really didn't know and that made it tough for me to get emotionally
invested in the characters.
It could be argued that I wasn't supposed to get invested in the characters,
I was supposed to be invested in the situation. That is a fair argument but
the fact is that I felt I needed to be invested in both. I was certainly
involved in the mission, but I wanted to also be involved in the fates of
the men.
It is quite possible that a second viewing of this film will increase my
(already strong) affection for the film because I can spend some time really
learning who each of these people are.
As for the mission, the film is absolutely remarkable. There are four or
more teams of soldiers fighting on multiple fronts for the majority of the
film and I never had any difficulty knowing which group was which. In fact,
the only time things weren't clear was when I think the film was
intentionally vague.
Black Hawk Down has drawn a lot of comparison to Saving Private Ryan for
it's realistic depiction of life in the middle of a battle zone. Such a
comparison is both fair and unfair. It is fair because the battle scenes
are just as visceral and chaotic as they are in Saving Private Ryan. It is unfair because
this film just can't pack the emotional punch of Saving Private Ryan because we lack a
connection with the characters that the middle hour of Saving Private Ryan provides. That
is quite possibly not the goal of Black Hawk Down and so it becomes
dangerous to use Saving Private Ryan as a fair comparison.
Criticism aside, this is a remarkable film. While it may not be a great
movie, it is a very good movie and it contains many great moments. As with
most well done war films, it is not an easy film to watch. But if you are
all right with sitting in a theatre and being extremely uncomfortable (even
as you are being entertained), this is the film for you.
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