Black Hawk Down: one civilian's thoughts
Chazbot
A few thoughts on "Black Hawk Down":
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
A
H
E
A
D
1) "Awright! We're saved! Obi-Wan *and* Legolas are here!"
Now I know what the hard-core "Matrix" fans went through when they saw The
Agent (?) as Lord Elrond. Orlando Bloom has, for me, forever "become"
everybody's favorite elven bad-ass. Ewan McGregor has been in enough
high-profile roles that I don't peg him to any single character, but still,
it was weird seeing him play an American soldier. It was also weird seeing
an actor of his stature playing a fairly minor role.
2) "What, did they rebuild Mogadishu brick by charred brick, then blow it up
again?"
I'm no expert on Somali architecture or anything, but Ridley Scott and Co.
produced in me the "You Are There" effect. And the scene with the Pakistani
waiters at the stadium was so absurdly surreal, so Terry Gilliam-esque, that
I did at least a triple-take.
3) "I can't believe how dangerous Delta Force is."
If this movie is anything like real life, I'm just glad these guys are on
OUR side. And just like everybody else has been saying, the Eric Bana
character was priceless. Taking back the downed helo with a curt "I believe
this belongs to me" in the local language was one of the best scenes I've
seen in a while. Leading his team to eliminate the Somali heavy gun crew and
turn that artillery on those f*ckers was a fine, fine "oh, YEAH" moment.
4) "I can't believe how brave those guys are."
No, no joke here. I really can't. Again, I gather that this movie is fairly
true-to-life, and seeing soldiers calmly stand up straight as agonizing
supersonic death screams by -- in thousands of convenient 7.62mm packages --
was sobering and awe-inspiring. I could only dream of courage like that.
5) "Burn in hell, Comrade Kalashnikov."
'Nuff said.
6) "Same to you, Aidid."
Ditto.
7) "Armor? Air support? Why do we need any of that? *I'm* safe here in
Washington."
The f*cking fat-ass politicians who denied our troops what they needed to
survive might just get to bunk with Nos. 5 and 6, above.
Yeah, yeah, we were getting involved in someone else's civil war; the Aidid
aide who said something like "there can be no peace without victory"
actually *did* have a point. Whatever. Seemed more like genocide to me.
Sounds like f*cking Aidid was building power by cornering the food market at
gunpoint. "Want to eat? Join my armed mob."
Anyway.
-- Chazbot.