36 BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY
from the 10th Mountain Division. Following sunset, Aidid’s militia forces attack
the Americans cornered at Super Six- One’s crash site. AH-6J Little Bird light he li -
cop ter gunships manage to hold off the swarming Somali militants throughout the
night with strafing runs and rocket attacks. Shortly after sunrise the 10th Mountain
Division’s relief column reaches the crash site and rescues the American soldiers.Reception
Rushed into wide release (3,100 theaters) four months after 9/11 to capitalize on
American patriotic fervor, Black Hawk Down ran from mid- January to mid-
April 2002. The movie grossed $108.6 million domestically and another $64.3
million overseas for a worldwide total of $172.9 million—at least $35 million in
profits over and above production, advertising, and promotion costs. Nominated
for four Oscars, Black Hawk Down won two (for Best Editing and Best Sound) and
also fared well with most film critics, who praised the film’s frenetic, nonstop
action— impeccably edited, tightly framed, and uncannily realistic. There were,
however, dissenting voices. Film critic Elvis Mitchell described Black Hawk Down
as “accomplished but meaningless” and took the movie to task for a “lack of char-
acterization [that] converts the Somalis into a pack of snarling dark- skinned beasts,
gleefully pulling the Americans from their downed aircraft and stripping them.
Intended or not, it reeks of glumly staged racism” (Mitchell, 2001).Reel History Versus Real History
Though it accurately depicts the course of the Battle of Mogadishu, Black Hawk Down
skimps on the broader context. In so doing it largely reduces a complex geopo liti-
cal reckoning to a 144- minute firefight. At the insistence of the Pentagon, the movie
also elides a U.S. soldier involved in the battle named John “Stebby” Stebbins
(renamed in the movie as “John Grimes”). In 1999 SPC Stebbins was convicted by
court- martial for repeatedly raping his own six- year- old daughter, a domestic atroc-
ity that was also a PR nightmare the DOD was anxious to suppress. Other elisions
can be chalked up to the usual narrative and cultural imperatives that define Hol-
lywood cinema. Ergo, the movie condenses 100 key figures in Bowden’s book down
to 39 and includes only one African American actor and no Somali actors. Con-
versely, the film features soldiers wearing helmets with their last names on them,
a fictional device deployed by Ridley Scott to help the viewing audience distin-
guish among the many characters.Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
Synopsis
Born on the Fourth of July is an American biopic/war drama based on the best- selling
autobiography of the same title by Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic (played by Tom
Cruise in the film) that traces Kovic’s evolution from soldier to anti- war activist.
Vietnam veteran Oliver Stone co- wrote the screenplay with Kovic and also co-
produced and directed the film, which is the second installment in Stone’s trilogy