General Muhammad Farah Aidid, a Somali warlord, has been confiscating U.N. food shipments in Somalia, resulting in the death by starvation of some 300,000 Somalis. The world responds by sending an elite group of American Rangers and Delta Force soldiers on a humanitarian mission. The task: capture the General’s top advisors in the hopes of capturing the elusive Aidid. The timeframe: half an hour.
Upon reaching the place where the key advisors held their meeting, the US troops encounter unexpected resistance from Aidid’s militia. Two helicopters were brought down by enemy rockets. What was supposed to be a simple 30 minute extraction mission became a complicated 24 hour rescue mission.
I first heard of the movie during an International Law class; my professor was discussing the complexities of war and he suggested we watch Black Hawk Down. I did watch the movie; my understanding of war wasn’t any clearer. Nevertheless, I saw the purpose of the movie, and that was to deliver to its audience the ghastly experience of a soldier during this Somali mission in 1993. It delivered quite magnificently. From the cinematography to the screenplay, the movie made me sympathize with those troops out there . I was glued to the screen for fear that I would miss a single frame; never mind that the movie seemed to be all explosions and gunfire. It helped of course that Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, and Ewan McGregor were there.
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