shalafiBlack Hawk Down is the best ever war movie. That's all I'm sayin'. Also, you might have use for this.
It’s been a while since I watched it, but I’d definitely file it under US propaganda since I’m pretty sure they couch the fact that prior to this raid, the US blew up an entire council meeting with helicopter gunships, killing over 200 people including tribal elders who were all vying for peace. To this day the US claims it was a war council and a legitimate target.
So if you want to know why so many people in Mogadishu took up the chance to shoot Americans, now you know why.
The book does offer the missing context, and is a truly fantastic piece of journalism. Mark Bowden went to immense effort to include the Somali perspectives on the events and the movie flattened out all of those details for the sake of creating some evocative villains.
I still think it’s one of the best war movies ever made, but yes, it absolutely is propaganda and needs to be understood as such.