Black Hawk Down is a Ridley Scott war film, based on a book by the same title by Mark Bowden, depicting the Battle of Mogadishu, a raid conducted by US' troops in Somalia in an effort to capture warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The battle’s importance lies not only with the atypical (at the time) casualties taken by the American forces, but also by the fallout that followed, reflected in a White House (Clinton administration) policy change, regarding military intervention in Third World conflicts.
There are quite a few moral questions that should have been presented at the heart of this story. And although some of these questions are touched upon, Ridley Scott, so it seems, is a filmmaker interested more in portrayal of violent conflicts than in moral questions. The most critical question is should American forces intervene in conflicts where genocide is taking place? Or should the USA allow other countries to fight their own civil wars? Arguments can be made to both sides, arguments Scott introduces but does not develop during the film.
That soldiers heroically fight to death when it comes to a band of brothers, is a story worth telling, even if told many times before. Yet, Black Hawk Down carries much heavier untold weight, which leads the film to ultimately disappoint.
On the positive side, Scott does know how to present war, and does so in the most chilling, effective and realistic manner possible. The story respects the soldiers that fought the Battle of Mogadishu – the casualties and the survivors.