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Too close for comfort
[Photos: Revolution Studios]
Ty Burrell (left) and Jeremy Piven (on stretcher) are among soldiers in Mogadishu dodging bullets in a fast-paced Black Hawk Down. |
By STEVE PERSALL, Times Film Critic
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 17, 2002
Black Hawk Down is a masterful vision of the brutal realities of war, set in Mogadishu in 1993 but charged with parallels to today's battle in Afghanistan.
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The timing of Ridley Scott's superb Black Hawk Down couldn't be better, or possibly worse. Although this fact-based war story takes place in 1993 in Somalia, it may as well be Afghanistan today with images of U.S. special forces sweeping through foreign territory pursuing the killers of innocents.
Moviegoers see the hardware, the helicopters, automatic weapons and night goggles, realizing that the same kind of action is occurring now. Here at home, we get reports that troops are engaged in "intense" confrontations. Black Hawk Down graphically defines such Pentagon-speak, placing viewers squarely behind the triggers or, in the film's most disturbing moments, in front of them.
However, this isn't a pep rally for warfare like the recent Behind Enemy Lines. Hold the trumpets unless they're playing taps. The battle of Mogadishu re-enacted here turned out to be a modern-day Little Big Horn, a one-hour mission that deteriorated into a 15-hour ordeal causing the deaths of many more Americans than have three months of Operation Enduring Freedom.
We lose and retreat, and that isn't the stuff of popular entertainment. Especially now.
There is also the fact that Scott eliminated a postscript that would have claimed the defeat at Mogadishu exposed chinks in U.S. armor that emboldened anti-American factions. The events of Sept. 11 may have roots there, insofar as it showed some vulnerability. The tragedy to come and our inadvertent contributions to it hang over Black Hawk Down like a coffin flag. Some viewers won't be comfortable with that.
But jingoism isn't a reason to overlook great filmmaking. Black Hawk Down is without a doubt the most harrowing depiction of warfare ever fashioned by Hollywood. Consider the first and final 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan, skip that movie's foxhole cliches and noble poses, and you have an idea of what Scott accomplishes with breakneck pacing over nearly 21/2 hours.
Somalia was just another place for U.S. troops to exert influence in 1993. The nation was being starved into submission by warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, who hijacked United Nations food supplies to strengthen his forces.
Yurek (Thomas Guiry) is caught by enemy fire in Black Hawk Down.
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A decision was made to capture two of Aidid's top lieutenants at Mogadishu, so 120 members of Delta Force and Ranger infantry were dispatched to the city for a smash-and-snatch mission. Two helicopters were shot down, and the military code of not leaving anyone behind sparked an ill-fated rescue attempt.
Black Hawk Down brilliantly captures the situation's confused violence with painstaking authenticity, filled with tactical maneuvers described by walkie-talkie speak that viewers must decipher like a foreign language. We're constantly challenged to keep up with the trained minds working, and with Pietro Scalia's frenzied editing.
Most of the movie takes place within a few blocks of Mogadishu streets that all look the same, yet Scott smartly pinpoints the hot spots and temporarily safe havens with landmarks like a downed chopper. The proximity of the enemy provides most of the tension; soldiers don't know what waits around the corner, and neither do we.
Some viewers will be frustrated by the film's lack of characterization, with actors such as Josh Hartnett, Tom Sizemore and Ewan McGregor playing real-life soldiers whose names barely register in the commotion. There aren't many personal quirks aside from some hesitancy or bravado in the face of gunfire. This isn't a movie about people but about the institution of war in which identities are submerged for the sake of the mission. We cringe when soldiers die, not because of their individuality, but simply because they're human.
The script by Ken Nolan, based on Mark Bowden's book, doesn't point fingers. The commanders aren't foolish or bloodthirsty. Sam Shepard's stone-faced general even becomes a grieving father figure. Scott isn't interested in Vietnam-style accusations because the situation doesn't call for them. But there is a sense of wartime waste here that few acknowledged publicly before Vietnam. Enough to give some viewers pause before cheering what's happening in Afghanistan.
Black Hawk Down is a sobering reminder of the doubts, determination and destruction that occur before the victory photos are taken. That's an important lesson in a high-tech era when seeing the whites of the enemy's eyes isn't always required before shooting. The movie is about defeat, but Scott's message would also apply to victory: You can win a war and still lose something, no matter how impersonal or righteous things seem to be.
Black Hawk Down
- Grade: A
- Director: Ridley Scott
- Cast: Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Sam Shepard, Tom Sizemore, Jeremy Piven, Eric Bana, William Fichtner
- Screenplay: Ken Nolan, based on the book by Mark Bowden
- Rating: R; graphic violence, profanity
- Running time: 144 min.
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