Directed by Ridley Scott - 2001
The film is based on a true event and it makes that clear in a series of texts (on a slightly eerie bluey-green background) that bookends the action. 1992 Somalia. 300,000 die of starvation. Hunger is the weapon. Therefore 20,000 US Marines are sent to Mogadishu to provide food and order. April 1993: the Marines are withdrawn. Mohamed Farrah Aidid, the warlord, (who has declared himself President) declares war on the remaining UN peacekeepers. June: his forces ambush and slaughter 24 Pakistani peacekeepers and begin targeting US personnel. Late August: Delta Force, Army Rangers and 160th SOAR are sent to Mogadishu to remove Aidid and restore order. They do capture Osman Ali Atto, a faction leader selling arms to Aidid's militia. They now plan to seize two of Aidid's top henchmen. The film begins.
The Delta force
The mission was meant to take three weeks but, after six weeks, the US High Command is impatient. It is Sunday 3rd October 1993. The attack begins. An interesting exchange had taken place between Atta and the US officer: This is civil war. This is our war. Not yours. (many would argue this point about any of the conflicts taking place in Africa and elsewhere). The response? This is not a war, it is genocide. A later comment - there will always be killing. This is how things work in our world - is as true in 2021 as in 2001. No matter - 140 elite Delta Force and Ranger soldiers raid the dangerous part of Mogadishu, supported by Black Hawk helicopters.
There is much to praise about the movie. The directing is sharp and focused - Scott gets across the sense of fear as the soldiers realise they are trapped amongst thousands of angry natives; the camera work is excellent; the special effects - e.g. close-ups of bits of maimed bodies - realistic; the brutality of conflict etched clearly - the Somalian father carrying the body of a child, the body bags, the General mopping up the blood by a soldier's makeshift operating table.
The stretcher bearers
One major key to the film's premise is Leave no man behind. The soldiers were, above all, comrades willing to die for their fellow men. One says, When I go home and people ask me why did you do it man? Are you some kind of war junkie? I won't say a word. They won't understand it's about the men next to you. And that's it.
There are two criticisms which could be, and have been, levelled at the film. There are no, or minimal, back stories (as in most of the other movies watched so far) - I feel they were not germane to such a plotline. One critic (Mike Clark of USA Today) went so far as to write: the standard getting-t-know-you war-film characterisations are downplayed. While some may regard this as a shortcoming, it is, in fact, a virtue. One result is that I have only a vague idea of who was who, and which actors were involved. Secondly, the focus is, almost, entirely from the USA's point of view. There were no Somali actors or consultants, leading to no cultural empathy. The led several critics to argue that the effect was to enhance the desire of Americans for a thumping war to avenge 9/11. Audiences were encouraged to empathise with the pro-soldier leit-motif and conflate personal support of American soldiers with support of American military policy.
I still don't like helicopters!
The movie ends as it began - with a series of texts. 500 or more Somalis died along with 19 US soldiers. Michael Durant (the captured pilot) is released after 11 days of captivity. Two weeks later President Clinton withdrew the Delta Force and the Rangers. Major General Garrison accepted full responsibility. On August 2nd 1996, Aidid was killed in Mogadishu; next day General Garrison retired.
2002 DVD
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