Black Hawk Down (film)

Black Hawk Down
Promotional poster
Directed by	Ridley Scott
Screenplay by	Ken Nolan
Story by	Mark Bowden (book)
Produced by	Jerry Bruckheimer Ridley Scott
Starring	Josh Hartnett Eric Bana Ewan McGregor Tom Sizemore William Fichtner Ron Eldard Ewen Bremner Tom Hardy Orlando Bloom Jeremy Piven Sam Shepard Jason Isaacs Ioan Gruffudd Johnny Strong
Cinematography	Sławomir Idziak
Edited by	Pietro Scalia
Music by	Hans Zimmer Denez Prigent
Production companies	Revolution Studios Jerry Bruckheimer Films Scott Free Productions
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release dates	December 18, 2001 (Premiere) January 18, 2002
Running time	Theatrical cut: 144 minutes Extended cut: 152 minutes
Country	United States
Languages	English Somali
Budget	$92 million
Box office	$172,989,651

Black Hawk Down is a 2001 American war film co-produced and directed by Ridley Scott and based on the book of the same title by Mark Bowden that depicts the Battle of Mogadishu, a raid integral to the United States' effort to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid.

The movie features Josh Hartnett, Tom Sizemore, Ewan McGregor, Jeremy Piven, Eric Bana, Ewen Bremner, William Fichtner, Tom Hardy, Sam Shepard, Jason Isaacs, Glenn Morshower and Orlando Bloom. The film won Academy Awards for Best Film Editing and Sound in 2001.

Plot

In a military raid, a task force of Delta Force Soldiers, Army Rangers and 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment attempt to capture two of Warlord Mohamed Farah Aidid's senior subordinates in the Mogadishu neighbourhood of Bakaara Market. The mission is led by Major General William F. Garrison and is supposed to take no more than half an hour. The extraction by the Delta team is successful, but the Somali Militia, armed with RPGs, shoot down two Black cock helicopters, and the resulting rescue extends the mission to over 18 hours.

The film follows many characters through the build-up, assault and rescue. It shows how Staff Sergeant Matt Eversmann is placed in charge of Ranger Chalk Four, before portraying the raid and successful extraction of the wanted persons; and shows the first injury, as PFC Todd Blackburn falls from a helicopter as it maneuvers to avoid an RPG. While extracting Blackburn from the city, Sergeant Dominick Pilla is killed. This is the beginning of the indication that the troops are overwhelmed by the volume of enemy militia, and builds up to the two helicopter crashes: Super Six-One piloted by Cliff "Elvis" Wolcott, and Super Six-Four piloted by Mike Durant. Durant is taken prisoner after the two Delta snipers who requested to be inserted near the crash site of Super Six-Four (Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon) are killed while defending him.

The film also follows two Chalk Four machine gunners who are supposed to return with the extraction team, but miss the Humvees as they leave, and get lost. One of them is deafened by machine-gun fire, but they eventually make their way back to Eversmann. Corporal Jamie Smith attempts to rescue one of them whose flashbang grenade was shot and exploded, but Smith is shot as well, and eventually bleeds to death as the Rangers attempt to give him medical care.

The film approaches its conclusion as the U.S. Forces regain control with strafing runs by Little Bird Helicopters and a convoy of Pakistani Troops from the 10th Mountain Division, along with other United Nations Forces and Malaysian Army, arrive to extract the wounded. Back at the base, Sergeant First Class Norm "Hoot" Hooten begins to restock on ammunition, preparing to go back out to rescue downed Soldiers, and Eversmann tells the now deceased Jamie Smith that he will fulfill his dying wish which was to tell his parents he "fought hard today".

The film ends with text informing the viewer that "1000 Somalis died and 19 Americans lost their lives in the conflict (the 19 Soldiers and Officers who died are then listed by name and rank). Mike Durant was released after 11 days of captivity. On the 2nd of August 1996, Warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid was killed in Mogadishu. General Garrison retired the following day."

Cast

Actor	Role/Based on	Status
Josh Hartnett	Staff Sergeant Matt Eversmann, US Army Ranger, leader of Chalk 4. Compilation of both Eversmann's actual experience in the operation, as well as of US Army Rangers Tom DiTomasso and Larry Perino's experiences during the operation.	Alive
Ewan McGregor	Specialist John "Grimsey" Grimes, US Army Ranger (based on John Stebbins)	Alive
Tom Sizemore	Lieutenant Colonel Danny McKnight, commander of the 3rd Ranger Battalion	Alive
Eric Bana	Sergeant First Class Norm "Hoot" Hooten, Delta Force operator (composite of Norm Hooten and Les "Mace" Stevens)	Alive
William Fichtner	Sergeant First Class Jeff Sanderson, Delta Force operator (based on Paul Howe)	Alive
Ewen Bremner	Specialist Shawn Nelson US Army Ranger (Shawn Nelson was a Sergeant in real life)	Alive
Sam Shepard	Major General William F. Garrison, commander of Task Force Ranger	Alive
Gabriel Casseus	Specialist Mike Kurth, US Army Ranger	Alive
Kim Coates	Master Sergeant Wex (based on Tim "Griz" Martin) Delta Force operator	Dead
Hugh Dancy	Sergeant First Class Kurt Schmid, Delta Force medic in real life, portrayed as a Ranger medic in the film	N/A
Ron Eldard	Chief Warrant Officer 3 Michael Durant, 160th SOAR pilot Super Six-Four	Alive
Ioan Gruffudd	Lieutenant John Beales, US Army Ranger	N/A
Tom Guiry	Staff Sergeant Ed Yurek, US Army Ranger	Alive
Charlie Hofheimer	Corporal Jamie Smith, US Army Ranger	Dead
Danny Hoch	Sergeant Dominick Pilla, US Army Ranger	Dead
Jason Isaacs	Captain Mike Steele, commander of Bravo Company, 3rd Ranger Battalion	Alive
Steven Ford	Lieutenant Colonel Cribbs, Delta Force operations chief (based on Lee Van Arsdale)	Alive
Zeljko Ivanek	Lieutenant Colonel Gary Harrell, portrayed as commander of Delta Force component but was only joint deputy commander in actual battle	Alive
Glenn Morshower	Lieutenant Colonel Tom Matthews, commander of 1st Battalion, 160th SOAR	Alive
Jeremy Piven	Chief Warrant Officer Clifton "Elvis" Wolcott, 160th SOAR pilot Super Six-One	Dead
Brendan Sexton III	Private First Class Richard "Alphabet" Kowalewski, US Army Ranger	Dead
Johnny Strong	Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart, Delta Force sniper, Black Hawk Super Six-Two	Dead
Nikolaj Coster Waldau	Master Sergeant Gary Gordon, Delta Force sniper, Black Hawk Super Six-Two	Dead
Richard Tyson	Staff Sergeant Daniel Busch, Delta Force sniper, Black Hawk Super Six-One	Dead
Brian Van Holt	Staff Sergeant Jeff Struecker, US Army Ranger	Alive
Ian Virgo	Private John Wadell, US Army Ranger	Alive
Tom Hardy	Specialist Lance Twombly, US Army Ranger	Alive
Gregory Sporleder	Sergeant Scott Galentine, US Army Ranger	Alive
Carmine Giovinazzo	Sergeant Mike Goodale, US Army Ranger	Alive
Chris Beetem	Sergeant James Casey Joyce, US Army Ranger	Dead
Tac Fitzgerald	Sergeant Keni Thomas, US Army Ranger	Alive
Matthew Marsden	Specialist Dale Sizemore, US Army Ranger	Alive
Orlando Bloom	Private First Class Todd Blackburn, US Army Ranger	Alive
Enrique Murciano	Sergeant Lorenzo Ruiz, US Army Ranger	Dead
Kent Linville	Private Clay Othic, US Army Ranger	Alive
Michael Roof	Private Mike Maddox ,US Army Ranger	Alive
George Harris	Osmon Atto, Somali Official	N/A
Razaaq Adoti	Yousuf Dahir Mo'alim, Somali Militia Group Leader	N/A
Treva Etienne	Firimbi, Somali War Chief and Michael Durant's captor	N/A
Pavel Vokoun	Chief Warrant Officer Donovan "Bull" Briley, 160th SOAR pilot Super Six One.	Dead
Ty Burrell	U.S. Air Force Pararescueman Timothy A. Wilkinson	Alive

Background and production

Black Hawk Down was originally the idea of director Simon West who suggested to Jerry Bruckheimer that he buy the film rights to the book Black Hawk Down: a Story of Modern War by Mark Bowden and let him (West) direct; but West moved on to direct Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) instead.

Despite Ken Nolan being credited as screenwriter, others contributed to it uncredited; Steven Zaillian re-wrote the majority of the script; Sam Shepard (MGen. Garrison) wrote most of his dialogue; Eric Roth wrote Josh Hartnett and Eric Bana's concluding speeches. Composed mostly of participant accounts, Spec 4 John Stebbins became the fictional "John Grimes", because Stebbins was convicted by court martial, in 1999, for sexually assaulting his daughter. Reporter Bowden said the Pentagon requested the change. He wrote early screenplay drafts, before Bruckheimer gave it to a screenwriter; the PoW-Captor conversation, between pilot Mike Durant and militiaman Firimbi, is from a Bowden script draft.

For military verisimilitude, the Ranger actors took a crash, one-week Ranger familiarization course at Fort Benning, Ga.; the Delta Force actors took a two-week commando course, from the 1st Special Warfare Training Group, at Ft. Bragg, N.C. Ron Eldard and the actors playing 160th SOAR helicopter pilots were lectured by captured aviator Michael Durant at Fort Campbell, Ky. The U.S. Army supplied the matériel and the helicopters from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment; most pilots (e.g. Keith Jones, who speaks some dialogue) participated in the battle on October 3–4, 1993. Moreover, a platoon of Rangers from B-3/75 did the fast-roping scenes and were extras; though none of them had served in the original battle they have since served in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Most of Black Hawk Down was photographed in the cities of Rabat and Salé in Morocco; the Task Force Ranger base sequences were filmed at Kénitra. The film features no Somali actors.

In order to keep the film at a manageable length, 100 key characters in the book were condensed down to 39. A large number of the actors who played American soldiers are actually from different countries. The list includes: Ewan McGregor (Scottish), Eric Bana (Australian), Kim Coates (Canadian), Ioan Gruffudd (Welsh), Ewen Bremner (Scottish), Jason Issacs (English), Zeljko Ivanek (Slovenian), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Danish), Tom Hardy (English), Matthew Marsden (English) and Orlando Bloom (English). When Orlando Bloom auditioned for the role, he informed the casting directors that he knew what it was like to break his back (as he had done so only a couple of years before when climbing out on a drain pipe from a friend's flat). His character in this movie breaks his back after falling from the helicopter.

On the last day of their week long Army Ranger orientation at Fort Benning, the actors who portrayed the Rangers received a letter which had been anonymously slipped under their door. The letter thanked them for all their hard work, and asked them to "tell our story true", signed with the names of the Rangers who died in the Mogadishu firefight.

The film features soldiers wearing helmets with their last names on them. Although this was an inaccuracy, Ridley Scott felt it was necessary to have the helmets to help the audience to distinguish between the characters because they all look the same once the uniforms are on.

The set was constantly bothered by stray dogs running into shot. Ridley Scott kept them in because he liked the authentic feel of their presence. Eight dogs were adopted by various members of the production and were eventually brought back to the US with them.

At Bakara Market, a Moroccan street sign is revealed which depicts 'Tidarine Street' in Arabic and French.

Ewen Bremner partially lost his hearing because of all the gunfire. He did recover however.

The photo of a wife and child that Ron Eldard (playing Mike Durant) looks at once his situation becomes hopeless following the deaths of his protectors is actually a photo of Eric Bana's wife and child. The props department forgot to take a photo of a wife and child with them, so they asked Bana's wife and child who were traveling with him if they could use a photo of them in the movie.

Reception

Box office performance

Black Hawk Down had a limited release on December 28, 2001, opening to only four theaters, but it still earned $179,823 in its first weekend, for an average of $44,956. On January 18, 2002 the film had its wide release, opening at 3,101 theaters and earning $28,611,736 in its first wide release weekend to finish first at the box office. As it opened on the Martin Luther King holiday, the film earned an additional $5,014,475 from the extra day of the long weekend. Black Hawk Down would go on to finish first at the box office for the next two weekends. When the film was pulled from theaters on April 14, 2002, it had grossed $108,638,745 domestically and $64,350,906 internationally, for a total worldwide gross of $172,989,651.

Critics

The film received many positive reviews from mainstream critics. Empire gave it a verdict of "Ambitious, sumptuously-framed and frenetic, Black Hawk Down is nonetheless a rare find of a war movie which dares to turn genre convention on its head." It has a 76% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a normalized rating of 74 on Metacritic.

Awards

Black Hawk Down won the following awards:

• 2002 Academy Award for Best Editing (Pietro Scalia)
• 2002 Academy Award for Best Sound (Michael Minkler, Myron Nettinga, Chris Munro)
• 2002 Golden Reel Award from the Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA for Best Sound Editing - Effects and Foley, Domestic Feature Film
• 2002 Harry Award

It was also nominated for the following awards:

• 2002 Academy Award for Best Director (Ridley Scott)
• 2002 Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Slawomir Idziak)
• 2002 AFI Film Award for AFI Cinematographer of the Year (Slawomir Idziak)
• 2002 AFI Film Award for AFI Director of the Year (Ridley Scott)
• 2002 AFI Film Award for AFI Editor of the Year (Pietro Scalia)
• 2002 AFI Film Award for AFI Movie of the Year (Jerry Bruckheimer, Ridley Scott)
• 2002 AFI Film Award for AFI Production Designer of the Year (Arthur Max)
• 2002 MTV Movie Award for MTV Movie Award Best Action Sequence (First helicopter crash)
• 2002 MTV Movie Award for MTV Movie Award Best Movie
• 2002 WGA Award (Screen) for Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published (Ken Nolan)
• 2002 Teen Choice Award for Film - Choice Actor, Drama/Action Adventure (Josh Hartnett)
• 2002 Teen Choice Award for Film - Choice Movie, Drama/Action Adventure
• 2002 Golden Reel Award from the Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA for Best Sound Editing - Dialogue and A.D.R., Domestic Feature Film
• 2002 Golden Trailer for Best Drama
• 2002 DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (Ridley Scott)

Controversy

Soon after Black Hawk Down's release, the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in California denounced what they felt was its brutal and dehumanizing depiction of Somalis and called for its boycott.

In a radio interview, Brendan Sexton, an actor in the movie, said that the version of the film which made it onto theater screens was significantly different from the one recounted in the original script. According to him, many scenes asking hard questions of the U.S. troops with regard to the violent realities of war, the true purpose of their mission in Somalia, etc., were cut out. Sexton wrote an article in 2002 where he maintained that Black Hawk Down failed to explain the reasons behind the Somali population's opposition to the U.S. military presence in their country:

The Somalis are portrayed as if they don't know what's going on, as if they're trying to kill the Americans because they — like all other "evildoers" — will do anything to bite the hand that feeds them. But the Somalis aren't a stupid people. In fact, many were upset because the U.S. military presence propped up people tied to the old, corrupt Barre regime.

In a review featured in The New York Times, film critic Elvis Mitchell expressed dissatisfaction at the film's "lack of characterization", and noted the film "reeks of glumly staged racism". Owen Gliberman and Sean Burns, the film critics for the mainstream magazine Entertainment Weekly and the alternative newspaper Philadelphia Weekly, respectively, echoed the sentiment that the depiction was racist but Jerry Bruckheimer, the film's producer, rejected such claims on The O'Reilly Factor, putting them down to political correctness in part due to Hollywood's liberal leanings.

Critics also charge that the African American actors chosen to play the Somalis in the film do not in the least bit resemble the racially unique peoples of the Horn of Africa nor does the language they communicate in sound like the Afro-Asiatic tongue spoken by the Somali people. The abrasive manner in which lines are delivered and the film's inauthentic vision of Somali culture, they add, fails to capture the tone, mannerisms and spirit of actual life in Somalia.

Shortly after the film's release, author Mark Bowden, who wrote the screenplay for Black Hawk Down, told a newspaper that the character played by actor Ewan McGregor is based on Ranger John Stebbins, "but Pentagon officials asked his name be changed in an attempt to keep his shame [a 30-year sentence for sodomy and rape of his 6-year-old daughter] a secret". Instead, the name was changed due to "creative reasons".

Malaysian military officials whose troops were involved in the fighting have raised complaints regarding the film's accuracy. Retired Brigadier-General Abdul Latif-Ahmed, who at the time commanded Malaysian forces in Mogadishu, told the AFP news agency that Malaysian moviegoers would be under the wrong impression that the real battle was fought by the Americans alone, while Malaysian troops were "mere bus drivers to ferry them out".

General Pervez Musharraf, who later became President of Pakistan after a coup, similarly accused the filmmakers of not crediting the work done by the Pakistani soldiers in his autobiography In the Line of Fire: A Memoir:

The outstanding performance of the Pakistani troops under adverse conditions is very well known at the UN. Regrettably, the film Black Hawk Down ignores the role of Pakistan in Somalia. When U.S. troops were trapped in the thickly populated Madina Bazaar area of Mogadishu, it was the Seventh Frontier Force Regiment of the Pakistan Army that reached out and extricated them. The bravery of the U.S. troops notwithstanding, we deserved equal, if not more, credit; but the filmmakers depicted the incident as involving only Americans.

Soundtrack

Main article: Black Hawk Down (soundtrack)

External links

• Official website
• Black Hawk Down at IMDb
• Black Hawk Down at AllMovie
• Black Hawk Down at Box Office Mojo
• Black Hawk Down at Rotten Tomatoes