Movie Review
Black hawk down and saving private Ryan are two incredible war movies that capture death more than any other film. The black hawk down was published in 2001 and was based on the non-fiction book of the same name that had been published previously. On the other hand, saving private Ryan was published in 1998, three years before the production of the black hawk down. Both the black hawk down and saving private Ryan have received critics from the audience based on their realism and cinematography. The black hawk down and saving private Ryan war films have differences and similarities in terms of plot, theme, production, reception, and cinematography.
The plot of the black hawk down the film is set by the Somalia civil war of 1993. The United Nations Security Council takes the mandate of peacekeeping in Somalia after the onset of the civil war (Slotkin, 2017). The United Nations Security personnel are deployed to Somalia, but after a short period, the personnel are withdrawn from Somalia’s land. After the withdrawal of the United Nations Security Council personnel, the Mogadishu-bases military declares war on the United Nations security personnel remaining in Somalia. The Somalia military fighting the United Nations personnel is led by Farrah Aidid, who has declared himself the president (Safitri, 2015). The United Nations Security Council deploys three of its special operations forces to Somalia in response. The Delta force, the 75th Rangers, and 160th SOAR-NIGHT Stalkers aviators special units are tasked with capturing Farrah Aidid. In the operation to capture Aidid, the United Nations Security Council special units start by capturing Osman Ali, who supplies the Aidid’s military with weapons. Also, close advisors to president Aidid are arrested in operation. The United Nations special units consist of a group of competent soldiers. The United Nations soldiers are aware of the situation in Somalia due to the civil war. The United Nations soldiers use black hawk helicopters to execute their operations in Somalia. Blackburn, who is a United Nations Security Council soldier, suffers some burn injuries while in action. The black hawk down film now stages the attacks between the Somalia military led by Aidid and the United Nations Security Council special units.
The black hawk down is famous for how the war attacks between the United Nations Security Council military and the Somalia military are staged. In the war, Sergeant Dominick Pilla of the United Nations Security Council is shot and killed. Thereafter, the Somalia military uses a rocket-propelled grenade to attack the black hawk super-six (Höglund, 2018). In the attack, two pilots are killed, and one Delta Force sniper on board manages to escape from a helicopter but dies from the injuries suffered some days later. The Somalia military uses roadblocks to restrict the United Nations Security Council soldiers from accessing the helicopter crash site. In response, the United Nations uses ground forces to access the crash site where heavy casualties have been suffered. More United Nations personnel are killed as they try to locate and evacuate the fallen soldiers and the wounded soldiers from the helicopter crash site. The United Nations personnel in Somalia requests for reinforcement from the 10th Mountain Division to enable them to capture the trapped fallen soldiers on helicopter crash site. The United Nations finally access the site and evacuates its soldiers. The operation marks the end of the United Nations military mission in Somalia. In the black hawk down film, a thousand Somalis died, and nineteen American Soldiers from different special units lost their lives. The black hawk down film’s plot uses staged attacks to depict realism of war.
Similar to the black hawk down, saving private Ryan film’s plot is constructed by the use of war attacks. While in Normandy Invasion, many American soldiers are killed by the Germany forces (Fisher, 2017). Scenes of dead soldiers are used in the film to show the severity of the fight between the American soldiers and the Germany soldiers. The United Nations war department learns that there of the four Ryan sons have been killed during the Normandy Invasion. General George Marshall, who leads the United Nations war department, receives a letter from Abraham Lincoln ordering that the remaining Ryan son in the mission should be brought home from the mission. Seven experienced United Nations soldiers are tasked with the mission of bringing the Ryan son back home. The seven soldiers find the United Nations soldiers engaged with the enemy at Neuville. Private James Ryan is located, but the soldiers learn that he’s is not the right one. The saving private Ryan film reveals the role of leadership in war.
Saving private Ryan film depicts how different leaders from different special units corporate to achieve the war mission. Miller leads the group of seven soldiers tasked with bringing the fourth Ryan son home after the killing of the other three Ryan sons in the war (Rassell, 2015). Miller and his troops locate Ryan among a group of soldiers defending a key bridge against Germany’s attack. Miller narrates to Ryan about the death of his three brothers and the intention to bring him back home from the mission. Ryan is much disturbed about the death of his brothers, but he is unwilling to abandon the mission. Miller devises a plan with his soldiers to corporate with Ryan soldiers to defend the bridge. Miller and his soldiers use thirty-calibre guns and anti-tank mines to inflict heavy casualties on the Germany army. In the attack, Miller is shot, and he dies from the injuries. The film ends with Ryan standing at the Millers’ grave. Ryan is asking his family if he was worthy of that sacrifice. Ryan honours Miller’s grave before leaving for other duties. A devasted Ryan is used in the saving private Ryan war film to show the effects of war.
Both the black hawk down and the saving private Ryan are two war films that share a similar theme. The themes of the effects of war and leadership styles in war are vividly reflected in both films (Singer, 2016). In both films, soldiers and innocent citizens died from attacks depicting that war as an enemy to human life. Different military groups from the black hawk down and saving private films were led by leaders with different character traits. Leadership in military war is essential and plays an important role in determining the outcome of a war. In the black hawk down, Major General William demonstrates his leadership skills when a black hawk helicopter is attacked by the Somalian military. William is focused on the job before him of evacuating the fallen soldiers from the helicopter crash site. William realizes that sending another helicopter to the site will be more dangerous. General William thus decides to send snipers to the site. The decisions by William reveals how he is a strategic and careful planner, and at the same time, an authoritative leader. In saving the private Ryan, Miller leads a group that is tasked with bringing the fourth Ryan son back home after the death of the other three Ryan sons. Miller reveals himself as a focused and caring leader by deciding to join the mission where he finally loses his life. Ryan is affected by the death of his three brothers and the death of Miller. Therefore, themes of leadership and effects of war are both demonstrated in the two war films. In every war film, it is common to have one outstanding soldier who survives in all the attacks in the war. In the black hawk down, William is the outstanding soldier. However, in saving private Ryan, a different approach is adopted where the film does not focus on any individual soldier but focuses on military professionalism.
In conclusion, both the black hawk down and saving private Ryan are two outstanding war films. The saving private Ryan film was published in 1998 while the black hawk down was published three years later. Both films have a positive audience reception with only insignificant critics. The black hawk down builds its plot from the war between the Somalia soldiers and the United Nations Security Council Soldiers. On the other hand, the saving private Ryan film builds its plot from the war between the American and Germany soldiers. Effects of war is a major theme in both the black hawk down and saving private. Also, leadership and military professionalism theme is depicted in the two war films. Saving private Ryan film does not focus on any outstanding soldier as opposed to the black hawk down film. Both films are incredible, and they capture war more than any other film made about the genre. However, the saving private Ryan film is outstanding as it captures all the finer details of war.
References
Fisher, J. (2017). Film and Affect, Theories Entwined: The Case of the War Genre in Saving Private Ryan (Steven Speilberg, 1998). In The Palgrave Handbook of Affect Studies and Textual Criticism (pp. 513-541). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Höglund, J., & Willander, M. (2018). Black Hawk-Down: Adaptation and the Military- Entertainment Complex. Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research, 9(3), 365-389.
Rassell, A., Redmond, S., Robinson, J., Stadler, J., Verhagen, D., & Pink, S. (2015). Seeing, sensing sound: Eye tracking soundscapes in saving private ryan and monsters, Inc. Making sense of cinema, 139-64.
Safitri, L. (2015). American Call For War: Cultural Reader Response To Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down Movie (2001) (Doctoral dissertation, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta).
Singer, S. (2016). Exploring War Horror’s Narrative Punch in Spielberg’s Munich and Saving Private Ryan. A Companion to the War Film, 56-70.
Slotkin, R. (2017). Thinking Mythologically: Black Hawk Down, the “Platoon Movie,” and the War of Choice in Iraq. European journal of American studies, 12(12-2).