| |
 Hell
hath no fury like a country in the midst of civil war.
Up until September 11, it was easy for Americans to maintain a false
sense of security as they watched on CNN while third world countries
thousands of miles away fell apart at the seams. As we all know,
everything changed on that fateful day, which is why US armed forces
now have more support than ever when it comes to intervening in
international affairs that might ultimately pose a clear and present
danger to the country. Now, as patriotic as that may sound, it doesn't
always mean that we're in the right, and even if we are, it doesn't
always mean that detailed missions go as smoothly as planned.
Black
Hawk Down powerfully depicts one such mission in a documentary-like
fashion. Based on Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Mark Bowden's book
of the same name, the film recreates--with painstaking, horrific,
and graphic detail--how one so-called "simple" mission went dangerously
awry, leaving 18 Americans dead and 73 more badly injured. Coming
hot off the heels of 2000's Oscar-winning Gladiator and 2001's
critically-derided, but enormously successful Hannibal, director
Ridley Scott turns in what just may be the most visually realized,
realistic, and effective film of his career. Relentless, brutal,
and hypnotically riveting, Black Hawk Down puts moviegoers
directly in the line of fire in a way that few films ever have.
In 1993, Somalia was deep in the throes of economic, social, and
political upheaval. The country's top warlord, Mohammed Farah Aidid,
was blocking shipments of food in order to maintain control, and
with his power showing no signs of diminishing, the UN peacekeeping
forces devised a plan to kidnap his closest and most trusted aides.
On October 3, Major General William E. Garrison (Sam Shepard) deployed
the Army's highly-trained Rangers and Delta Forces to carry out
their mission, but it fell apart almost immediately. With two state-of-the-art
Black Hawk helicopters shot down, outnumbered, frantic, and exhausted
US soldiers were left to fight for their lives. Suddenly, a simple,
in-and-out mission dragged on for more than 15 hours, giving way
to a new mission: Get the soldiers out, and leave no man behind.
There are few filmmakers who have such a firm grasp on their material
as Ridley Scott, whose groundbreaking movies Alien and Blade
Runner continue to inspire countless other filmmakers. And it's
only a matter of time before his Roman Empire opus Gladiator--which
completely re-invented the swords-and-sandals epic--does the same.
With Black Hawk Down, Scott shows no signs of losing his
touch, and if anything, he displays even more control over a film
that depicts a world that's about as out of control as one could
possibly get.
The film starts off with the mission debriefing and the introduction
of the band of brothers who carry it out, but then Black Hawk
Down turns into a no-holds-barred, edge-of-your-seat nail-biter
for the rest of its two violent, punishing, and unforgiving hours.
Try and imagine what would happen if the first 20 minutes of Steven
Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan stretched on for an entire
film, and there you have Black Hawk Down. There's no time
to breathe, there's no time to catch up, and there's nowhere to
turn. And why? Because that's war, and war is hell.
Black
Hawk Down proves that in war, there's no time for character
development, and as a result, it's hard to get a fix on who the
soldiers are. In some ways, the camaraderie between the personnel
resembles the camaraderie between the men of Easy Company in HBO's
excellent mini-series Band of Brothers, and for the most
part, that approach is one of the strengths of the movie. There
is an attempt to make an emotional impact through the fate of one
of the wounded soldiers, but since most of the characters are nothing
more than faces in a very chaotic crowd, the moment comes up surprisingly
short.
Black
Hawk Down is more about the combat than it is about the characters,
yet there are still some incredible performances to be found. Josh
Hartnett redeems his decent performance in one of the year's biggest
disappointments--last summer's critical bomb Pearl Harbor--with
a dedicated turn as the idealistic Sgt. Matt Eversmann. In addition,
Tom Sizemore gives a powerful, commanding performance as Lt. Col.
Danny McKnight, while Sam Shepard desperately tries to keep his
cool as the Major General who must watch helplessly as the mission
falls apart.
It's hard not to watch Black Hawk Down without thinking about
what US special forces might be going through in Afghanistan as
we speak. In that sense, it was wise for Sony Pictures to move up
its original release date from March 2002 to December 2001 (even
if it was partly to vie for Oscar consideration). In addition, producer
Jerry Bruckheimer deserves plenty of credit for taking such a radical
departure from the normally crowd-pleasing, lowest-common-denominator
fare that he's best known for (he produced Pearl Harbor).
Moviegoers will undoubtedly leave the theater feeling pulverized,
shell-shocked, and overwhelmed, but that's precisely the point.
Like I said, war is hell, and Black Hawk Down is one helluva
movie.
|
|
