Black Hawk Down

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To begin with, this paper was written with the intent to provide a full analysis on the movie Black Hawk Down. Over the course of the following paragraphs, I will establish a base as to why I think this movie is important to history, as wells as provide an in-depth overview of the narrative, and the translation of the story into a film. Since there are many different characteristics that make up a great film, the following text will provide what I think to be the strongest elements of the narrative, mise-en-scene, character development, and overall reception of the audience. First of all, Black Hawk Down is a film by Ridley Scott that tells the story of an ill-fated U.S. military raid that went catastrophically wrong when optimistic plans were met with unexpected guerilla resistance. Operation Gothic Serpent took place on October 3, 1993 in Mogadishu, Somalia. The mission was supposed to be a textbook style raid in order to apprehend lieutenants loyal to General Muhammed Farrah Aideed, a powerful warlord who had appointed himself president of Somalia after overthrowing it’s current president, and murdering many high level government officials. In all, 18 Americans lost their lives, 70 more were wounded, and approximately 3,000 Somalis were killed. Days after the disastrous events of the raid, the U.N. task force orchestrated by then President Bill Clinton, pulled out all of U.S. troops from Somalia, ultimately disbanding the task force, and ending the mission in failure. The conflict was a controversial matter fueled by the media, and openly displayed how gravely underestimated U.S. intelligence reports were of General Aideed’s power. The events left a stain on President Clinton’s foreign policy, and ended up being a critical fail... ... middle of paper ... ... and Randy Shughart requested, knowing it was a suicide mission, to be inserted to the crash site of downed helicopter Super Six Four, where they find Durant still alive. The crash site is eventually overrun, Gordon and Shughart are killed, and Durant is captured and taken to Aidid. This scene marks the lowest point in the film for the Americans, and this is the moment you realize that even though the mission is a huge failure, it wasn’t a complete loss because the mission objective ultimately became to just survive. The power of this sequence is amazing, and it captures the heroic actions of these men giving their lives as they adhere to the brotherly code of “leave no man behind.” The movie's implied message is that America on that day lost its resolve to risk American lives in distant and obscure struggles, and that mindset weakened our stance against terrorism.

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