34 BLACK HAWK DOWN
Black Hawk Down (2001)
Synopsis
Black Hawk Down is an American combat film co- produced and directed by Ridley
Scott, from a screenplay by Ken Nolan, based on the eponymous 1999 nonfiction
book by Mark Bowden. Book and film recount a 1993 raid in Mogadishu, Soma-
lia, by the U.S. military that devolved into a desperate fight for survival known as
the Battle of Mogadishu. The film features a large ensemble cast that includes Josh
Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Eric Bana, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner, Jason Isaacs,
Tom Hardy, and Sam Shepard.Background
On 3 October 1993, “Task Force Ranger,” a 160- man, U.N.- affiliated U.S. military
detachment, conducted a raid in the center of war- torn Mogadishu, Somalia. Its
mission—to capture two lieutenants of Habr Gidr clan leader Mohamed Farrah
Aidid— went disastrously awry when the task force encountered fierce re sis tance
from hundreds of armed civilian Somali National Alliance (SNA) fighters. Sur-
rounded and pinned down for almost 14 hours, the Americans took heavy casual-
ties (18 dead, 73 wounded) before being evacuated by an armored relief convoy
early Monday morning on 4 October In the aftermath of what became known as
the Battle of Mogadishu, news reports showed jubilant Somalis dragging the body
of a dead and nearly naked U.S. soldier through the streets of Mogadishu—an image
that horrified the American public and rocked the Clinton administration (though
American media outlets did not bother to report that over 1,000 Somalis also died
in the same battle). To mollify critics Clinton fired Les Aspin, his secretary of
defense, and demoted Gen. William F. Garrison, the officer in charge of the disas-
trous operation. Anxious to discover what went wrong, journalist Mark Bowden
traveled to Mogadishu, interviewed participants on both sides, and reviewed volu-
minous Army rec ords. His painstaking account of the incident was first published
as a series of 29 articles in The Philadelphia Enquirer in 1997 and later turned into
a critically acclaimed bestseller, Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War (1999).
Director Simon West (Con Air) suggested to Hollywood mega- producer Jerry
Bruckheimer (Top Gun, Pearl Harbor) that he secure the film rights and let West
direct. Bruckheimer did buy the film rights but hired Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade
Runner) to direct after West took on another film proj ect. Though Ken Nolan
received sole credit for the screenplay, Mark Bowden wrote the initial adaptation,
Nolan rewrote Bowden’s version, Steven Gaghan did another rewrite, Steven Zail-
lian and Ezna Sands rewrote most of Gaghan and Nolan’s work, and then Nolan did
a final rewrite. For purposes of dramatic streamlining but also for ideological rea-
sons, what had been a fuller characterization of the combatants and the po liti cal
context was pared back and soldiers’ expressions of ambivalence regarding the mis-
sion were excised altogether.Production
Crucial to the proj ect was the full cooperation of the American military establish-
ment, which Ridley Scott sought and won quid pro quo. For a $3 million fee and