Black Hawk Down
|
|
Black Hawk Down is a 2001 film by Ridley Scott, based on the book Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War about the Battle of Mogadishu, the U.S. military attempt of 1993 to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The movie stars Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom. It won two Oscars in 2002 for Film Editing and Sound Editing.
| Contents |
Plot
Based on the best-selling book detailing a near-disastrous mission in Somalia on October 3, 1993 where nearly 100 U.S. Army Rangers, commanded by Capt. Mike Steele, were dropped by helicopter deep into the capital city of Mogadishu to capture two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord which lead to a large and drawn-out firefight between the Rangers and hundreds of Somali gunmen which led to the destruction of two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters in Mogadishu, and the heroic efforts by various Rangers to get to them, centering on Sgt. Eversmann commanding one Ranger unit, named Chalk Four, pinned down by the street fighting, to Warrant Officer Durant who was only survivor of the second black hawk crash site and whom was captured, to Lt. Col. McKnight who leads a rescue convoy for the Rangers only to get lost within the hostile city, to Lt. Perino leading Rangers to the first black hawk crash site, to Staff Sgt. Yurek who leads his decimated Ranger group Chalk Two through gunfire to safety, to many others involved who where either killed or survived. Template:Endspoiler
Issues Raised
Some critics view the film as blatant propaganda on behalf of US military intervention. Unlike his earlier film G.I. Jane, Black Hawk Down received the full co-operation of the US military and Scott had to allow the military a veto over every aspect of the film in order to receive this level of military involvement.
The film is shot entirely from the point of view of the American soldiers and it does not show how disproportionate the number of Somalis killed on that day was. Unlike Mark Bowden's book, the film does not depict the extensive civilian casualties of the Battle of Mogadishu, who were mostly being used by the militia as screens.
The making of the film
Much of the film was shot in Morocco. About 40 actors who were portraying Rangers were sent to Ft. Benning and were given a two week course on becoming Rangers, Several Actors portraying Delta Operators were sent to Ft. Bragg and were given a two week course in Commando tactics while the actor portraying Micheal Durant was sent to Fort Campbell and spoke to members of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. The Directors enlisted the help of the US Army, The Army gave the directors Black Hawks, Little Birds (with pilots from 160) a platoon of Ranger's(to do the fast roping scenes) and the ground vehicles and weapons.
References
- Scott, Ridley (2001). Black Hawk Down (http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/blackhawkdown/). Sony Pictures Entertainment. Culver City, California (USA).
External links and references
- Template:Imdb title
- Category at ODP (http://dmoz.org/Arts/Movies/Titles/B/Black_Hawk_Down/)
- RottenTomatoes.com film page (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/black_hawk_down/)
- Black Hawk Down: naked propaganda masquerading as entertainment (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/feb2002/hawk-f19.shtml) (a review from a socialist website)
- Mark Bowden, Black Hawk Down, Bantam Press, 1999Template:Film-stub
de:Black Hawk Down fr:La Chute du faucon noir ja:ブラックホーク・ダウン nl:Black Hawk Cown no:Black Hawk Down sv:Black Hawk Down