"You just don't want to hear anyone scream anymore.."
January 21, 2002 11:07 PM   Subscribe

"You just don't want to hear anyone scream anymore.." Blackhawk Down on the History Channel, includes interviews with American soldiers and Somalian militiamen.
posted by dglynn (8 comments total)
 
Well done documentary. Combat is insane, and this show conveys this.
posted by dglynn at 11:27 PM on January 21, 2002


Kinda weak FPP here, dglynn. For those of us who don't have the History Channel, what's the angle here?
posted by dhartung at 4:20 AM on January 22, 2002


dhartung: Here's the angle you're looking for:

See the faces and hear the voices of the men who lived through Somalia. I've read the book and seen the movie, and this was an excellent addition. It made everything I've read (and watched) and made it more realistic.
posted by xena at 4:29 AM on January 22, 2002


I saw this last night. It was excellent, better than the movie.
posted by jeblis at 8:38 AM on January 22, 2002


Sorry, dhartung. The film BlackHawk Down had been bandied about pretty hard here lately, with talk of historical inaccuracy and the effect of entertainment vehicles as sources for history. Somalia is often mentioned as a potential target in the War on Terrorism, and I thought it might be timely to discuss the actual events that occured there. I was attempting to make a value neutral FPP, in a weak attempt to head off the usual entrenchments of Left, Right, and Snark. I failed, so I agree, it was a crap FPP.

I thought this documentary was very well done though, and am still interested in what others thought of it.

Two points I found to be different; interviews with the Somali combatants, and the blunt honesty of the American soldiers about their emotional responses to the hellish combat.

Very visceral reporting, about a spot on the globe that appears to be a nightmare vision of a society gone literally to hell.
posted by dglynn at 9:03 AM on January 22, 2002


sounds better than the movie, which sucked.
posted by bingo at 11:55 AM on January 22, 2002


Spoken like a true filmic storyteller.

I tivo'd this and am looking forward to it. I liked the film quite a bit, though the characterizations were pretty weak. For that reason, I think this History Channel presentation was a fabulous idea.
posted by evixir at 10:18 PM on January 22, 2002


Please direct further attacks on the way I described my career in another thread here so that we may spare the uninterested.
posted by bingo at 3:02 PM on January 23, 2002


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