Black Hawk¹ Down is a 2001 American war drama film directed by Ridley Scott. It is an adaptation of the 1999 book of the same name by Mark Bowden, which chronicles the events of the Battle of Mogadishu, a raid integral to the United States' effort to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid.The film features a large ensemble² cast, including Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner and Sam Shepard.

 

A quickly forgotten chapter in United States military history is relived in this harrowing war drama from director Ridley Scott. On October 3, 1993, an elite³ team of more than 100 Delta⁴ Force soldiers and Army Rangers⁶, part of a larger United Nations peacekeeping force, are dropped into civil war-torn Mogadishu, Somalia, in an effort to kidnap two of local crime lord Mohamed Farah Aidid's top lieutenants⁷. Among the team: Staff Sgt. Matt Eversmann (Josh Hartnett), Ranger⁵ Lt. Col. Danny McKnight (Tom Sizemore), the resourceful Delta Sgt. First Class Jeff Sanderson (William Fichtner), and Ranger Spec. Grimes (Ewan McGregor), a desk-bound clerk getting his first taste of live combat. When two of the mission's Black Hawk helicopters are shot down by enemy forces, the Americans—committed to recovering every man, dead or alive—stay in the area too long and are quickly surrounded. The ensuing firefight is a merciless 15-hour ordeal⁸ and the longest ground battle involving American soldiers since the Vietnam War. In the end, 70 soldiers are injured and 18 are dead, along with hundreds of Somalians.

 

The film received many positive reviews from mainstream⁹ critics. Empire magazine gave it a verdict of "ambitious, sumptuously¹⁰ framed, and frenetic, Black Hawk Down is nonetheless a rare find of a war movie which dares to turn genre¹¹ convention on its head". Film Critic Mike Clark of USA Today wrote that the film "extols¹² the sheer professionalism of America's elite Delta Force – even in the unforeseen disaster that was 1993's Battle of Mogadishu." and praised Scott's direction "in relating the conflict, in which 18 Americans died and 70-plus were injured, the standard getting-to-know-you war-film characterizations are downplayed. While some may regard this as a shortcoming, it is, in fact, a virtue¹³". It has a 76% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a rating of 74 on Metacritic.

 

Black Hawk Down won two Oscars for Best Film Editing (Pietro Scalia) and Best Sound (Michael Minkler, Myron Nettinga and Chris Munro) at the 74th Academy Awards; The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Director (Ridley Scott) and Cinematography (Slawomir Idziak).

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