Review of Black Hawk Down (2001) by Filipeneto — 27 Apr 2018

This film is based on an actual US military operation that went wrong and left several US military personnel surrounded by hostile forces in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. The film tries to portray the facts, but I do not know how faithful it was to them. Its likely that much of it has been subverted to emphasize the dramatic effect. It's a war movie, so it's full of intense fighting and fighting scenes. They are the strongest part of the movie, and were truly well made. Through these scenes, its very easy for the public to move to the scene and fight alongside the gi's.

The major problem with this film is its inability to convey the lesson learned by the Americans in Somalia. The lesson is that America can not be the police of the world, and that it should not interfere in the internal problems of other countries lightly, as it did in Somalia (and other countries, usually with the worst consequences). The film never reflects on this either on the bad consequences of war, or from ill-thought military operations. It's just an excuse for a war movie with Americans dying and killing enemies like sparrows, which removes the film from any depth or meaning. If you had chosen to think about it, it could easily be compared to an "Apocalypse Now", for example. This iconic film speaks not only of the Vietnam War but also of how war affects all, winners and losers, for the worse. There is a profound message behind this film. There is no such thing here. It is a war movie that justifies itself, and loses quality with it. The film does not even dare to show the failure that was truly the American intervention in Somalia. At this point, it is simply advertisement. It is a propaganda piece to the heroism and blind patriotism of the Americans.

The cast plays a fairly reasonable role, but with a script condemned at the start and highly partial, we can not expect miracles. The characters are very poorly developed, to the point that the public quickly loses the notion of who is who in the ray of the film. Losing that feeling is halfway to losing interest in what is happening. But as I said, the movie's strong point is action, and everything else was kind of relegated to the background by the production team. It's a good looking action movie or a movie that attempts to show real military combat. But compared to other war films, it's pretty primary, it gets boring and confusing, it does not appeal to everyone and it's easily forgettable.