"All our ignorance brings us nearer to death" - T.S. ELLIOT
For you comic book fans out there, sorry, but this movie has nothing to do with Quality and DC Comics comic characters,
BLACKWAWKS. Too bad that no one has considered bringing Will Eisner's famous group to the screen since the 1952 movie
serial from Columbia Pictures. Hey Columbia Pictures put both of these films out...coincidence...nah...no conspiracy here. Maybe
someday. In the meantime go out and see this excellent film directed by Ridley Scott, because it certainly seems like a big screen,
violent all action comic story. That is why I brought up the comic magazine characters. This movie unfortunately is based on fact and
I can definitely say I am glad that I didn't have to be there, in Somalia.
"You shouldn't have come here. This is civil war. it is our war."
The story itself consists of no major plot, nothing complicated. It is simple, a bunch of soldiers are sent out on a mission that turns into a
disaster. The rest of the story is basically about trying to get out alive. There really is very little time for director Scott to concentrate on
character development but it really isn't neseccary as this is a story of bravery, death and most of all survival. If Scott wanted us to see how
gruesome war can be, then let me tell you he succeeded admirably. I sat there during the special screening and I kept trying to urge myself
into getting up and walking out. I did not do this because the film was bad, no, quite the opposite. The film portrayed so many gut wretching
scenes that it made me feel totally uncomfortable. I did not want to see this but everytime I was ready to get up and go another scene would
come up that drew me back into the film. It was a love/hate relationship with BLACKHAWK DOWN and besides I had to stay to write
this review.
"Just watch your corner. Bring all your men back alive"
By now you're probably saying, "Man what a wuss." Well, I certainly love to watch good bloody and gruesome horror movies but this I knew
was based on reality and that was the difference. In one scene a soldier walks into a helicopter after a battle and the floor is covered with
hundreds of empty shell casing and scattered all about the shell casing are hundreds of cunks of human flesh torn off dead soldiers. So you
think that would not affect you? Watching a traumatized soldier calmly pick up the hand of his friend, that was just blown up, and put it in his
pocket, is not something easily accepted.
"We got a Blackhawk Down."
One scene shows a man hit by a missile and be blown apart into little pieces full on camera. We watch a scene where blood is squirting
out of a casuality while a general is down on his knees frantically trying to clean it up. A field medic manically digs his hands into a femoral
artery wound to try and save a soldier's life. Men and women having different body parts blown away are balanced off by scenes of real
saddness. A grandfather carries his dead grandchild in his arms right between the two enemies firing at each other. A young child accidently
shoots his father when an American soldier comes between them. These are not easy to watch scenes.
"No one gets left behind; you know that."
Watching this film is not entertainment it is an ordeal that one should experience so that one can see what war is really like. It is not pretty.
All to often we think of war as acts of bravery, special people fighting for what is right and just. We just do not see the reality of it. Let's face it
the military propaganda machine is not about to show you real pictures or tell you what it is really like during a vicious battle. Hollywood on
the other hand will show you for two reasons, big bucks and because some actually want you to see the reality. I hope that Ridley Scott made
this film to show us the later. If he did then he suceeded. I'm sure the money will come as well.
"Are you the ranger that kills my people?"
Today in America after the Twin Tower bombings there is a need to see films about the success of brave soldiers winning the day. What
we need to know as well is that war is hell, it's brutal and people die in it. Rambo is not there, real people are. Shortly we will be deluged
with war films that will show us both sides of war, bravery and mass deaths. When we watch these movies we have to remember that
no matter how brave we pretend to be...we we will still scream when parts of our body are torn asunder. This is not pretty for either side.
Today we have to be careful to remember that there is no glory in war and never will be, there will only be death. There was no glory in the
people who died in the towers on both sides of the conflict. There is no glory in what is happening in the Middle East and there will be no
glory in what may come. Only dead soldiers and civilians. BLACKHAWK DOWN shows us that this is true.
"Tell my parents that I fought well today...that I fought hard."
The worst thing about war is that both sides think they are right, and that is the sad part, because we are incapable of seeing this and that
is what has led us to where we are today. Watching this film we see that both sides believe to be right so Scott has spent very little time
dwelling into the justification of this battle. He just attempted to show us how each side were willing to do what was necessary to ensure
their survivals. "War is cruelty; you cannot refine it." stated William Tecumseh Sherman. Scott has shown us precisely that fact in this film
about one of America's biggest, modern military blunders.
"Without victory, there is no peace. This is the way things are in our world."
You know what was the saddest scene in this film? The final scenes of children playing in the debris and on the downed helicopter blades.
This is their life and to them it is normal, they were brought up with it. How can we expect people in the Middle East to act differently when
they are born into this. How can we expect them to change when this is their way of life. They see people around them willing to sacrifice
themselves for their cause, so how can we expect the children of tomoorw to be any different. Terrorism and war are a vicious circle, one
that never ends because no one is brave enough to break the circle and try real peace. Hey, we are after all a predatory species; have been and
will be for a long time to come. That is why we go to see war films, isn't it? Or is it?
I saw a poem about this real battle and I thought I would share it with you.
Black Hawk Down
Anonymous
"Black Hawk Down!" across the net came the cry
A wisp from the ground brought fire to sky
Two hundred heads turned in that moment so clear
Yet not a first thought their own lives' fear.
Pilot, soldier, sailor, crew
Hell's fire below meant nothing to you
Yet into the maelstrom only two could leap
Against oppression fury they would reap
I can still see them coughing against the desert sand
Fearing naught, an upraised hand
Gesturing towards the fallen, neither haughty nor proud
They disappeared quickly into the rising cloud
Nothing further could I offer, they doubtless knew
As towards the injured with wings they flew
Through smoke, through fire, and failing light
Two soldiers together entered a selfless night
They gave without asking
A reward never known
They sacrificed freely
And our brother came home.
Thank you.
"No one asks to be a hero. Sometimes it just happens that way."
During every battle there are heroes. No one chooses to be one but sometimes circumstances give us very little choice as the brave men
and women of New York found out. As much as we hate to think that they are, just try to remember that on the other side, those we vilify, they
are made heroes as well. A hero is a hero no matter where they come from, as long as they stay true to themselves.
"They won't understand why we do it. They won't understand that it's about the guy next to you."
Needless to say this is a film I highly recommend that you see. Do not take the children unless you see it in a drive-in, late at night, when the
kids are asleep in the back seat. Eat your popcorn early in the film because you wan't be able to stomach it when BLACKHAWK DOWN
gets to the nitty gritty. Another nice thing about this film is that I doubt you will hear anyone making idle chatter during it, to annoy you.
See you at the movies.
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