Black Hawk Down

This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on May 26, 2003). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.

Wow — excellent, powerful, and frightening film. When Black Hawk Down first came out, I avoided seeing it — while I heard from many people that it was good, I was a bit overly cynical as to whether it was getting good reviews because it was actually a good movie, or because the US was in the process of bombing Afghanistan, and a patriotic “rah rah” movie was reaping the rewards of jingoistic fervor.

Let me be the first to say that I sorely underestimated the film, the reasons for its good reviews, and the reviews themselves. Overall, I think a healthy dose of cynicism is a good thing, but this time I seem to have taken it a bit far. Ah, well, everyone makes mistakes occasionally. BHD is actually a gut-wrenching account of a disastrous mission in Somalia that stretched from a planned hour-long insertion and retrieval into around seventeen hours of hell. Not at all pleasant to watch, but excellently done, and very powerful.

There’s what looks to be an excellent newspaper series on the events portrayed in BHD from the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Mark Bowden: Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War.