Black Hawk Down - Film Review

Every year there seem to be more and more movies about killing and war. While I like very much movies with action and violence, war movies always seem to have sad endings. I guess that is because there is not much happy about war. War is hell, just like they say.

The story of Black Hawk Down is about a group of marine soldiers that are sent into Somalia. There is a drug lord named Aidid there that has control of most of the town, and he takes control of the food distribution center. He has a large militia that defends him as well. It is really more like a massive army. Aidid has control of all the food, so he has lots of available men willing to fight for food.

The militia is performing something that looks very close to genocide, killing everyone opposed to their leader. Several helicopters full of men go into Somalia to capture Aidid with no armored vehicles, no food, and no water, completely unprepared for this amount of enemies or to stay for how long they did.

They expected to be in the town for less than an hour, but instead, they were there all day and into the night. They only had Hummers (unarmored jeeps) and black hawks, transport helicopters. There was no air support; there were no tanks. On their way in, a black hawk is shot down in the city.

Instead of snatching and grabbing Aidid missions, all attempts become rescue attempts for the downed marine helicopters. In the midst of trying to rescue the black hawk down, another chopper goes down.

This mission becomes a mess. They have now been in this city of genocide and bloodshed for several hours and cannot seem to make any progress. Men are dying left and right. Basically all survivors from the black hawk crashes are dead, as are many men who tried to rescue these men. Men die even from leg wounds because they cannot get medical help. The squads of marines all end up stuck together in a building for the majority of the night. They are pinned down with hundreds of men everywhere surrounding them, pounding their position with RPGs, machine guns, grenades, mortars, and everything they have.

The men are running out of ammunition fast. By now, there are so many casualties that you begin to get sick of all the blood and gore you see while watching. The next morning begins, and the marines still have not been rescued. But hundreds of marines begin to pour into the city, in Hummers, tanks, armored trucks, and on foot. The marines are finally brought out of the city, but the results are not good.

So much blood was shed. Aidid was killed in Mogadishu, Somalia, and then Marines were withdrawn. 19 Americans lost their lives, and over 1,000 Somalis were killed. This is, overall, one of the best war movies ever, but it is sad, bloody, and filled with language.