Welcome back to Movie Recap. Today I'm gonna show you a 2001 war film called,
Black Hawk Down. Spoilers ahead. Sit back, relax and enjoy the video.
The movie begins with an exposition of the current happening in Somalia.
The years of the civil war causes famine that results in the death of many people.
Mohamed Farrah Aidid, the ruler of Mogadishu, and his militia seize the food shipments
and use hunger as a weapon. In April of 1993, after the withdrawal of the Marines after
bringing food supplies, he declares war on the remaining UN peacekeepers. After that, in June,
he starts targeting American personnel after a successful ambush on the Pakistani soldiers.
In August, America’s Elite Force, Delta Force,
Army Rangers, and 160th SOAR are sent to end Aidid and bring back order in Somalia.
In October of 1993, we see soldiers in a helicopter watching as the citizens fight over
the food supplies when suddenly the militia starts shooting at them. They report the situation to the
base and ask permission to engage, but the base declines. Instead, they call them back to base.
The scene changes to Bakara Market, the stronghold of Aidid’s militia. We see a man
on surveillance. After seeing that the target, Osman Ali Atto, leaves, he notifies his team.
Then, while driving, Atto is arrested and he calmly goes with the military.
In the base, General Garrison talks to Atto about his affiliation with Aidid and
his militia as their arms supplier. General, then, assures Atto that they will catch Aidid.
Outside, a group of soldiers board the black hawk with their pilot Wolcott and take off.
We see them fetch the man in the market earlier. Meanwhile,
we see a recruit named Todd Blackburn getting excited to participate in the field.
He, later on, is given under the temporary supervision of Sergeant Eversmann. At night,
the soldiers have a feast. Everyone is having fun and starts doing different activities right after.
In Sergeant Eversmann’s circle, they talk about the current situation of the civil war.
While others are not taking the situation seriously, Sergeant Eversmann expresses his
compassion to the civilians affected by the civil war. He also remarks that as soldiers,
they have two options regarding the situation, or to watch them die on the news. Afterward, as one
of the soldiers watched TV, he starts having a seizure, and others quickly attend to him.
The next day, Sergeant Eversmann is assigned to the Ranger Chalk Four, in exchange for the
epileptic soldier. Meanwhile, in the market, a man named Abdi nervously watches some people. Back
to the base, the soldiers are discussing their mission. Their next targets are two high officials
of Aidid namely Omar Salad and Abdi Hassan Awale. But the place where they will raid the
officials are the stronghold of Aidid’s militia that’s why they have to take extra precautions.
Afterward, Sergeant Eversmann hears other soldiers talking about how dangerous their
mission is. A friend of his named Smith notices and encourages him.
Meanwhile, a desk officer named Grimes is also called to participate in the field.
Later on, after Sergeant Eversmann talked to his team, everyone starts to prepare and gear up.
The scene changes to Abdi marking his car and drives to the location of the meeting of Aidid’s
officials. After confirming the location and given the signal, everyone heads out to the field.
Unfortunately, the militia has been notified by some children of the military’s movement to
the city. Abdi immediately leaves the area when he sees the militia coming
and other people start burning tires to notify others of their location.
Upon arriving at the location, the military wastes no time and enters the building to
capture their targets. When the militia arrives, they shoot at the soldiers to which they fight
back. The black hawk of Sergeant Eversmann’s unit arrives and they go down one by one.
But an enemy shoots an RPG at them, which they manage to avoid.
However, due to the sudden movement of the bird, Blackburn misses the rope and falls on his back.
Sergeant Eversmann quickly attends to him and calls others for help.
As more enemies arrive, Eversmann orders Galentine to call for medical evacuation.
Unfortunately, the humvees can’t get to them. With no other choice, they take Blackburn to the
humvees by foot. Meanwhile, other soldiers are successful in capturing the targets
and are ready to move out, just in time when Eversmann and others arrive carrying Blackburn.
They start driving back to base when the militia starts firing at them.
They shoot back, but Sergeant Pilla is shot dead while using the .50 machine gun. Colonel
McKnight quickly reports their situation to the base. Then, the Black Hawk Super 6-1 piloted
by Wolcott is shot down by enemy’s RPG, killing him and his co-pilot, and injuring three others.
Fortunately, Busch manages to get out of the bird and fights off enemies approaching the bird.
Watching the situation from the base, General Garrison quickly orders his men to secure the
perimeters around the crash site. Afterward, Sergeant Eversmann receives an order to secure
the perimeter near the crash site as his unit is the nearest to the location. He, then, takes his
men and leaves Nelson and Twombly for them to watch for the convoys coming to the crash site.
On their way to the crash site, Sergeant Eversmann is notified that enemies are nearing them,
but told to fight with precautions because women and children are among them,
not knowing that these women and children are enemies, too.
Unfortunately, they are spotted and a shoot-out happens. Meanwhile,
Nelson sees the convoy drives past them and tell Twombly that their comrades forgot about them.
At the base, General Garrison sees that more people are coming to the crash site.
Meanwhile, Eversmann and his men continue fighting while they push their way to the crash site.
The scene changes to the convoy reaching the base and other soldiers quickly attend to the wounded
and help them. Meanwhile, the Star 4-1 helicopter reaches the crash site and rescues Busch.
Unfortunately, they can only rescue him, and needs to leave immediately.
Just in time for Sergeant Eversmann and his unit to arrive at the crash site.
The sergeant, then, reports to Captain Steele about the situation inside the bird.
Sergeant Eversmann requests for medical evacuation, but gets declined for the moment
and is ordered to secure the perimeter for a while. Meanwhile,
we see another convoy going to the crash site taking heavy hits.
Unfortunately, they can’t get near the site because all the roads are blocked. Having no
other choice but to fight back, a soldier is killed when he takes a direct hit from an RPG.
The scene changes back to Nelson and Twombly. Thinking that the convoy leaves them,
they decide to go to the crash site on foot without knowing the directions.
Along the way, they fight many enemies,
causing Nelson to be partially deaf as Twombly uses a machine gun next to his ears. Afterward,
Black Hawk Super 6-8 arrives at the crash site and quickly leaves after dropping the soldiers.
After assessing the condition of the wounded inside Super 6-1, they notice that moving the
wounded without proper treatment right after will only worsen his condition.
Then, the Black Hawk Super 6-4 piloted by Durant is ordered to inbound the crash site
but is quickly taken down by an enemy RPG. Shughart and Gordon ask permission to help Durant
but get declined, saying they can’t risk another bird going down. After seeing the situation,
General Garrison sends Struecker’s unit back to the second crash site.
Then, we see Captain Steele and Sergeant Sanderson’s units are being cornered by enemies.
Sergeant Sanderson makes his move without the Captain’s approval and takes down the
enemy shooting from a building. Afterward, they quickly go in a building. Inside,
the Captain and Sergeant argue. The Sergeant convinces Captain Steele to
give him a shooter because his unit can still move to the crash site.
The Captain, then, orders Grimes to go with Sergeant Sanderson and Delta team.
The scene changes to the base where soldiers are preparing to go back.
However, a soldier named Thomas is scared and doesn’t want to go back. But with Struecker’s
encouragement, he rejoins the squad as they head back to the field. Then, we see Nelson
and Twombly finding their way to the crash site when they almost kill their comrade Yurek when
they shoot him as he crosses the road. The three reunites and find their way to the crash site.
Then, we see more crowds going to the 6-4’s crash site. Shughart and Gordon
are still asking for permission. Upon making sure that they know the risks,
General Garrison gives Colonel Harrell the call to which he finally approves. Meanwhile, Colonel
McKnight’s convoy is taking too much hit from the enemies. A soldier even takes a full rocket
in his body. Colonel McKnight is notified that they have to turn back to get to the crash site.
Unfortunately, as they turn back, they suffer heavy hits again, blinding the driver and even
injuring the Colonel in the neck. Then, they request for a retreat to the base to treat
the wounded first and regroup. Meanwhile, on 6-4’s crash site, the crowd is attacking Durant
and he is running out of ammo when Shughart and Gordon arrive and save him. On the other hand,
in 6-1’s crash site, Sergeant Eversmann’s men hear Colonel McKnight retreating to base.
Sergeant Eversmann, then, reminds them that they need to hold
and secure the perimeter until the convoy arrives. He also assures them that they are going home.
Back to the 6-4’s crash site, there are too many enemies for Durant, Shughart, and Gordon
to handle. Unfortunately, Gordon and Shughart die while holding off the enemies. Durant, then,
helplessly holds the picture of his wife and child as he watches how the crowd disrespects
the bodies of his dead comrades. Afterward, they come to him and he clings to the picture
even being beaten to death by enemies. Suddenly, the leader of Aidid’s militia and his men arrive
and stop the crowd. He, then, captures Durant and makes him a prisoner.
At the base, General Garrison orders for immediate backup for 10th Mountain Division, Pakistani,
and Malay soldiers to help his men get out of the hot zone and bring them to the Pakistani Stadium,
a safe zone. Later, a soldier notifies him that his requests are granted but it will
take time for the backup to reach his men. But he insists that they must go as soon as possible.
Back in the field, Sergeant Sanderson and his men decide to go on foot to the crash site after the
crowd puts up roadblocks, disabling their truck to go to the crash site. He, then, notifies Sergeant
Eversmann of their arrival. Sergeant Eversmann orders them to go to the northeast building to
secure more perimeter around the crash site. Then, we see Yurek, Nelson, and Twombly reach the site.
Yurek notifies Sergeant Eversmann of their arrival and asks for a cover while they cross the street.
Yurek and Nelson successfully cross the street, but Twombly is spotted by an enemy
and is shot in his backpack. Smith quickly goes and helps him but he is shot in the process. The
soldiers quickly attend to Smith and put first aid to him. Sergeant Eversmann orders Galentine
to call the Captain for help but they cannot provide it now. Then, we see Hoot with his
unit arrive at the 6-4’s crash site and find out that Durant is captured. Afterward, we see Durant
in the militia’s camp talking to the leader of the militia wanting to negotiate with him.
But Durant firmly states that the government won’t negotiate for him. The leader, then, tells
Durant that even they capture Aidid, the killings won’t stop. Because it is how their world works.
Outside, we hear a helicopter broadcasting around the area that they are not leaving Durant behind.
Back to the 6-1’s crash site, the doctor has no other choice but to operate Smith immediately
to stop the bleeding. He, then, asks Sergeant Eversmann to assists him. They begin the operation
and Smith passes out because of pain, but they successfully stop the bleeding from his wounds.
Meanwhile, in Sergeant Sanderson’s side, Grimes brews coffee for him. He, then, checks on his
wound when they suddenly get attacked by the enemies. Sergeant Eversmann’s unit is also
alerted and they fight back. Fortunately, Hoot’s unit manages to sneak behind the enemies and
take them down. At the Pakistani Stadium, Colonel McKnight is greeted by a soldier and assures him
that the 10th Mountain Division and UN have enough numbers. Afterward, they head out to the hot zone.
Back to 6-1’s crash out, Smith, unfortunately, passes away. Telling his friend, Eversmann,
to tell his parents that he fought hard as his final wish. Later, Hoot, who notices
that Sergeant Eversmann is thinking deeply, tells him to focus on getting out his alive men first,
rather than focusing on what he lost. As if right on timing, they hear a helicopter fly above them.
Then, we see them fighting the militia. The helicopter Barber 5-2 is in position for an
airstrike but doesn’t know who to shoot because of too much activity going on. Sergeant Eversmann
throws a strobing light to the enemies as a signal for the bird, but it doesn’t reach them. He, then,
goes to throw it at the rooftop while Hoot and his men give cover for him. Upon seeing the strobing
light, the bird rains bullets on the enemies and quickly withdraws when they ran out of ammo.
Afterward, ground backups arrive as well and start rescuing the wounded. Captain Steele, then,
notifies Sergeant Eversmann that the others are on the way as well, and they continue fighting.
Just in time when they start running out of bullets, the rest of the convoy arrives and
Colonel McKnight greets Sergeant Eversmann. They start rescuing the wounded and recovering the
dead in the Super 6-1. Afterward, the leader of every unit group up and discuss their way out.
Afterward, Colonel McKnight reports to the base that it will take a while before they get the
wounded pinned down in the cockpit. General Garrison, then, orders him to get his men no
matter what, leaving no one behind. Later, the sun starts rising as they finished rescuing.
But the vehicles are already full, with no choice, Sergeant Eversmann,
Sergeant Sanderson, Hoot, and others travel on foot out of the hot zone, using the vehicles
as their cover. Unfortunately, they are left behind as they take on the following enemies.
Tired, some of them start collapsing. But one helps the other, leaving no one behind as they
realize that they reach the safe zone as children run with them and people cheer for their comeback.
In the Pakistani Stadium, the wounded are treated while the deceased is being taken care of.
We see Colonel McKnight being treated; Sergeant Sanderson gives tea to Grimes; Captain Steele
visits his soldier; and Sergeant Eversmann talks to Hoot about the importance of their job.
Then, we see Eversmann talking to Smith, promising him to talk to his parents when he gets home.
The movie ends with an exposition on how General Garrison takes responsibility for
what happened in the raid and how Aidid’s rule ended as he died in August 1996.