BS: Black Hawk Down: the movie

Subject: Black Hawk Down: the movie
From: paddymac
Date: 20 Jan 02 - 03:05 AM

Had a chance to catch this movie Saturday afternoon. Not bad, and mot jingoistic, but the purpose of this thread is to note the very interesting version of "The Minstrel Boy" at the end. Sort of a jazzy arrangement, very subtly done, and a pleasant surprise.

Subject: RE: BS: Black Hawk Down: the movie
From: DonMeixner
Date: 20 Jan 02 - 10:48 AM

My Geoffrey went to see it and was quite affected by it. His twin brother who is thinking of joining the US Army reserves was told to see it before he made any decisions. Definately shows no glory in combat.

Don

Subject: RE: BS: Black Hawk Down: the movie
From: Wotcha
Date: 20 Jan 02 - 10:59 AM

Bowden's book is a pretty good read too ... and if you don't see the movie or read the book, see PBS' Frontline (pun unintentional) documentary on the same subject.
Cheers,
Brian

Subject: RE: BS: Black Hawk Down: the movie
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Jan 02 - 11:16 AM

Hmmm, haven't seen it yet. It is getting a lot of critical acclaim for being an excellent film. But the consensus on what makes it excellent seems to be the fact that almost the entire film is one of them "blow it up real good" things.

The film is also being widely criticized as Hollywood's latest version of historical events, ie grossly inaccurate and out of context. While 19 Americans were killed and many more wounded, many lefties are claiming the film doesn't mention the toll it took on Somalians, except to demonize them all as savages. I don't know whether that is accurate or not, but I do know that no one seems to be saying this film shows what was really happening that day, except from the perspective of the American soldiers at the expense of the rest of the UN security forces involved that day.

Anyone who has seen the film care to comment about those criticisms of the film?

Subject: RE: BS: Black Hawk Down: the movie
From: GUEST,Cynic
Date: 20 Jan 02 - 04:36 PM

America rewrites history. Yet another fuck up by the USA where they kill the the locals in inordinate numbers because the dickheads they send into foreign countries screw up. Learn that not all foreigners are some sort of sub species that you can kill, maim, flay alive, etc. At present you're at it again and are losing the world's respect.

Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Black Hawk Down: the movie
From: Little Hawk
Date: 20 Jan 02 - 08:54 PM

America possesses such massive firepower and such high technology that it can easily go wherever it wants to and massacre 3rd World opponents wherever it chooses to...but occasionally a few Americans actually die in the process! When that happens, Hollywood makes a movie about those "heroes" who fell while shooting down or blowing up ten or a hundred times their number of faceless "savages" in some small country...it doesn't really matter much where it is, cos those foreigners all look pretty much alike!

I have a highly realistic game of modern warfare, featuring several scenarios in the Gulf War, for example. Want to have a depressing experience? Play the Iraqui forces in any given scenario. Due to the advanced American technology, you are guaranteed to lose at least ten or twenty Iraqui tanks (or other vehicles) for any one American tank you destroy. Absolutely guaranteed. No matter how cleverly you manage your forces. It's utterly pathetic. (And the game is mercilessly realistic in that sense...well researched.)

There simply isn't any point even trying to fight the American military in a set-piece battle for a power such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Serbia, or just about anyone else out there at present...which is why America's opponents are beginning to strike at civilian targets in America instead! This makes life on the homefront much more hazardous for you and me than it used to be, which is the price we now pay for living in the arsenal of consumerism.

It reminds me of the Roman legions versus the Gauls, the Celts, the Helvetii, etc...or the British redcoats versus African natives armed with spears. The Romans fought a battle against the Britons where they killed an estimated 30,000 warriors, while losing maybe 150 legionaires. The British redcoats massacred many thousands of Zulus in an hour at the wrap-up to the Zulu war and lost a mere handful of men to scattered Zulu sniping while doing it. The natives had a few rifles, but they barely understood how to aim them, and tended to shoot too high...this resulted in an inordinate number of mounted officers killed among the few British soldiers who fell that day. Not one charging Zulu warrior even reached the British square which mowed them down in swathes with long range rifle fire. The battle occurred at the Zulu capital...and ended the war by virtually exterminating what was left of the Zulu army. Their best warriors had already fallen in droves earlier at Isandlwana (a pyhrric victory if ever there was one...the Zulus surprised and wiped out a British column by sheer force of numbers, but lost the heart of the Zulu army doing it) and at Rorke's Drift...where a handful of entrenched British soldiers held off many thousands of Zulus.

It's so self-serving, so predictable, and so characteristic of the dominant great powers of any particular age...Rome, Great Britain, America...to celebrate the few warriors they lose while killing a hundred times their number of faceless "barbarians".

- LH