"Black Hawk Down" by Ridley Scott: a review

Black Hawk Down is a famous American war film which was released in December 2001. The movie is directed by Ridley Scott. Ridley Scott is also the co-producer of the movie along with Jerry Bruckheimer. Black Hawk Down is a multi star movie starring Josh Hartnett, Tom Sizemore, Ewan McGregor, Jeremy Piven, Eric Bana, Ewen Bremner, Sam Shepard, William Fichtner, Glenn Morshower, Jason Isaacs and Orlando Bloom. In the movie Josh Hartnett as Matt Eversmann is in the leading role. The story of the movie is based on a book titled “Black Hawk Down” written by Mark Bowden which depicts the effort made to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farah Aidid in the Battle of Mogadishu.

The story of the movie starts with a raid to capture two senior subordinates of Mohamed Farah Aidid in the Bakaara Market near Mogadishu in an agriculture dependant land. In this raid Delta Force Soldiers, Army Rangers and Special Operation Aviation Regiment were involved. This mission was led by Major General William F. Garrison who was supposed to complete the mission in about half an hour. But the Somali military forces were armed with RPGs (Rocket Propelled Grenades) who shoot two Black Hawk helicopters of the US Force and therefore, the rescue extended the mission to over 18 hours. The film showed how Staff Sergeant Matt Eversmann was placed as in charge of Ranger Chalk Four before the raid and rescue operation was performed by the US Force. It also show the way a PFC (Private First Class), Todd Blackburn fell from the helicopter in order to avoid an RPG shot at him. The film moves ahead and the death of Corporal, Jamie Smith is shown while he was performing the rescue work.

At the climax of the movie, troops from the 10th Mountain Division along with other United Nations Forces comprising of Pakistan Army and Malaysian Army arrived at the spot to extract the wounded soldiers. In the meantime the base began to restock the ammunition and at the other end Eversmann promised dead Smith that he will fulfill his last desire. The film ends displaying some crucial information about this operation. It displayed that 1000 Somalis and 19 Americans lost their lives in the conflict. On August 2, 1996, warlord Mohamed Farah Aidid was killed in Mogadishu and General Garrison retired the next day.

Due to its magnificent story and direction, Black Hawk Down was nominated for four Academy Awards in the categories of Best Director, Best Editing, Best Sound and Best Cinematography. The movie was able to win the Academy awards in two categories. Pietro Scalia won the award for Best Editing and the Best Sound Award went to Michael Minkler, Myron Nettinga and Chris Munro. The movie also won Harry Award and Golden Reel Award in 2002. The movie was also nominated for AFI Film Awards and MTV Movie Award in different categories.

Black Hawk Down was one of the biggest hits of 2001. The film was released on January 18, 2002 worldwide in 3,101 theaters and finished first at the box office in the first weekend of its wide release. The movie was rated 74/100 by a website MetaCritic which have a normalized rating system. The budget of the film was $92 million. The movie has earned $172,989,651 worldwide and $108,638,745 from Unites States and form the international box office it earned $64,350,906.

"Black Hawk Down" movie is based on real events, and more specifically on the book for this event, written by Mark Bowden. During the battle, lost more than 1,000 Somalis and 19 U.S. soldiers, a UN soldier, their lives. The UN troops were requested by the U.S. Army to save their beleaguered soldiers. One of the downed pilot, Michael Durant, was released after 11 days in captivity. Two weeks later, President Clinton, the Delta Force and the Rangers withdrew from Somalia. General Garrison took full responsibility for the outcome of the mission. On 2 August 1996 was murdered Mohamed Farrah Aidid in Mogadishu. The next day General Garrison submitted his resignation.

ACTION:

Only the dead have seen the end of the war - Plato.

Nobody is left behind - the motto of the U.S. Army Ranger.

A double Oscar-winning war drama on a true story

Somalia, East Africa 1992: war between rival tribes to cause a famine of biblical proportions: 300,000 people die of starvation.

Mohamed Farrah Aidid, the most powerful warlord in the country, ruled the capital Mogadishu. He seized international relief supplies to the ports - hunger is his greatest weapon. The world does not stand idly by. Under the protection of 20,000 U. S. Marines distributed food to the hungry and order restored.

April 1993: Aidid waits until the withdrawal of the Marines, then to explain the remaining UN peacekeepers to war. 24 Pakistani soldiers are lured into an ambush and massacre. Moreover, the militias begin to take American personnel specifically to target. Then in late August America's elite units, Delta Force, Army Rangers and the 160th SOAR are sent to Mogadishu in order to eliminate Aidid and restore order again. For this mission is estimated at three weeks than after the sixth but was still no result, the leadership in Washington was impatient.

Saturday 2 October 1993: The businessman Atto is used because of the educational work of Delta Force Sergeant Norm "Hoot" Gibson (Eric Bana), of U.S. troops in custody. Atto Aidid arms dealer and is also one of its main financiers. On the same day, the young Ranger Todd Blackburn (Orlando Bloom) arrive in Mogadishu. He will train from Lieutenant Beales. assumed. That same evening, however, suffered an epileptic fit like on a skateboard with no wheels, so Sergeant Matt Eversmann (Josh Hartnett) to take responsibility for his train needs.

On Sunday, 3 October used to be a meeting of Aidid political advisers to make the two most important to pin down. The operation is planned venture solely on the basis of evidence of several spy by Major-General William F. Garrison (Sam Shepard). The arrest is conducted by the Delta Forces and to cover the retreat by the ranger units under the command of Captain Mike Steele (Jason Isaacs). The appropriate air support but is denied. The mission will last no longer than 30 minutes.

First, the campaign is on track, but the militia has warned of the arrival of U.S. troops. Heavily armed, they are set to meet them. As a first incident occurs: Private Blackburn crashes due to an evasive maneuver from a helicopter. Severely wounded, he is put to a convoy of Lt. Col. Danny McKnight (Tom Sizemore), who gives the order to share the column in order to carry away the wounded immediately. A little later, there is the next major incident, because one of the Black Hawk helicopter was shot down. So now we have also split the ground forces to secure the crash site, and so they have to give the initiative out of hand. An increasing number of militia and rebels are advancing against them. Then, when another Black Hawk was shot down, the mission finally failed. For the soldiers, now begins a fight for survival, none of the parties is to forget so quickly.