“Surviving Black Hawk Down” is a new documentary series on Netflix. It tells the story of the Battle of Mogadishu which was portrayed in Ridley Scott’s “Black Hawk Down”. It was produced by Ridley Scott Associates. The series uses eyewitness accounts of American personnel, militia members, Somali civilians, and a Somali who used his camcorder to chronicle the battle. There are reenactments that look as good as the movie.
The series is a good companion to the movie. You should see it if you have seen the movie. And before you think that Scott’s involvement ensured the series would be Americentric like his movie, it appears to be Scott’s way of rectifying the one-sided view of the battle that his film provided. I do not fault the movie for highlighting the bravery of the American soldiers, but it clearly did not present the other side well. It did have a few Somali characters and one of them is the main villain who gets a Hollywood style death to please the American viewers. The movie is excellent as a battle film and it is accurate. It is understandable that the only background is in the title cards at the beginning. The series rectifies this by giving the big picture as well as the battle itself. Oddly, the series uses the interviewees to explain why they were in Somali. While the film gives the soldiers a chance to give their viewpoint on the mission, it would have been wiser to have used historians for the background. Operation Restore Hope began with Americans being greeted warmly by the people, which they should have been because it started as a humanitarian mission to help with distribution of food supplies to a starving populace. The series does a poor job explaining what the US military was doing there. It became an example of mission creep as the military was given the additional goal of capturing or killing Aidid. The problem was that half the city viewed him as their leader. Civilians were caught in the crossfire and this added fuel to the flames. And throw in the typical American soldier’s disdain for people living in the Third World. Lessons from Vietnam unlearned.
The battle is very well presented. Seven Rangers or Delta Force members were interviewed. They are all very candid. “It was terrifying, as well as exciting”. That’s a good summary of combat from someone who went from playing video games to the real thing. And overall, the Battle of Mogadishu is an example of the fog of war as the seven men were very confused as to what was happening to them. However, since they were being interviewed years later, they could explain what they were trying to do that day. One of them was one of the first to Blackburn’s body. It does a better job than the movie in showing the chaos of urban warfare in a city where it was the public versus a small force. One veteran uses the term “a wall of lead”. And another says, “And all hell broke loose.” The viewers don’t have a fog of war because the series uses an animated city map to show where the groups of Americans were throughout the battle. Intercut with the remembrances of the Americans are interviews with male and female Somalians. As an American, listening to the militia members talk about what they considered a victory is eye-opening. They are unapologetic. Hollywood loves revenge and except for the fact that the Somalis greatly outnumbered the Americans, I can imagine a movie where they are the good guys. The series forces you to consider the other side’s view. It is hard not to understand their reasons for fighting. I was conflicted when watching it because my first reaction to the men who relished killing Americans was disgust, but I had to keep telling myself that they had legitimate reasons.
GRADE = A
