Alas for the Hawk

In 1993, a battle occurred in Somalia called the Battle of Mogadishu in which 19 American military personnel were killed. The event is dramatised in Ridley Scott's 2001 film Black Hawk Down. I finally watched it and it was about what I expected--a relentless depiction of deadly modern ground warfare, shot with consummate expertise and creativity.

People had been recommending it to me since it came out. My friend and former film teacher, Martin Johnson, even gave me a copy of the soundtrack in his enthusiasm for the film. I am open to enjoying film of any genre but if there is a genre that I'm reluctant to watch it's the modern war film. It's the same reason I prefer the peace sections to the war sections of War and Peace--there are no women in the war sections. But, also, a story like Black Hawk Down is meant to convey the interminable slog of such a horrific circumstances and it does so ably. So it's a slog. A well made slog, but a slog. It is certainly a useful piece of perspective and edifying to know such hellish conflicts are often occurring in the world.

Quentin Tarantino recently said he considered it to be the best movie of the 21st century so far and, a couple weeks before that, a teacher at one of the schools I work at recommended it. And there it was on Netflix so I figured it was time. The famous men in the movie look so young, Ewan MacGregor, Eric Bana, Josh Hartnett, Orlando Bloom, Jason Isaacs, and Tom Hardy. Harnett and Tom Sizemore were the two Americans in a cast otherwise filled with Brits and Aussies. Director Ridley Scott has never really cared how accurate the accents are.

This was made when Scott was already more than twenty years into his career which is dotted with intermittent masterpieces and turkeys. How could the same guy who made Black Hawk Down have also made that terrible Robin Hood or Napoleon? Anyway, I love that he keeps going and keeps trying something new. But like a lot of people, I miss the element of fantasy and poetry of his earlier films that seems to have been eclipsed by a colder pragmatism. The Martian was really good but only Prometheus seemed to have anything of the magic found in Alien, Blade Runner, or Legend.

In Black Hawk Down, he still had his fondness for glittering sweat. Everyone's got shadows down the middle of their faces with contours carved of tiny wet droplets. The film's not without its grace notes.

Black Hawk Down is available on Netflix.