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In 2002, Ridley Scott delivered his frenetic war epic Black Hawk Down to audiences, earning widespread acclaim for his harrowing depiction of a desperate rescue effort following a mission gone wrong in Somalia. The film specifically recounts the real-life Battle of Mogadishu, based on the novel of the same name by journalist Mark Bowden, in which a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed behind enemy lines. Now, over 23 years since the story first reached the big screen, Netflix is heading straight to the source to paint a true-to-life picture of what happened with help from the real people involved on both sides of the conflict. The streamer released a new trailer for its three-part docuseries Surviving Black Hawk Down taking viewers onto the battlefield ahead of its release in February.
Whisking audiences back to October 3, 1993, the footage opens with a tense scene of U.S. soldiers moving through the sand-clouded streets of Mogadishu as a survivor recalls the smell of blood and gunpowder in the air. Their goal that day was to strike down militia leaders loyal to General Mohamed Farrah Aidid to secure U.N. relief operations. Pandemonium breaks out, however, when the three Blackhawk helicopters are shot down with RPGs. Audio from news reports reminds viewers of what people around the world were hearing that day while the soldiers on the ground remember what it was like to be surrounded and left to fight an entire city against them. Like Scott’s work, Surviving Black Hawk Down doesn’t lack cinematic flair, but the real accounts of American units who felt the hopelessness of the situation add weight and reality to it all.
What makes the documentary stand out is that it’s not just telling the U.S. side of the conflict. Somali fighters and citizens also give their accounts from that day and the sense of pride they felt from taking down such a powerful enemy. While the American soldiers carrying out the operation in Mogadishu saw their armed adversaries as the “bad guys,” the footage makes it clear that there’s no black or white in war, as the Somalis attest to how U.S. bombing destroyed families and inspired the people to strike back. It’s set to be a complete depiction of “the horror and heroism” at the center of the battle with plenty of first-person interviews guiding viewers through each aspect of the conflict with much more accuracy than Scott’s original film.
Who Is Behind ‘Surviving Black Hawk Down’?
Scott had a hand in re-examining one of his best films with Surviving Black Hawk Down, as his commercial production company, RSA Films, is behind it all. Directorial duties for the documentary, however, fell to Jack MacInnes, an award-winner with experience capturing the chaotic nature of modern combat in 2022’s Leaving Afghanistan. His resume also features credits in the acclaimed BBC docuseries Inside the Commons and a production nod for Netflix’s Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99. He’s joined by producers Jamal Osman and Emma Supple along with executive producers Dominic Crossley-Holland and Tom Pearson.
Surviving Black Hawk Down premieres on Netflix on February 10. Check out the trailer in the player above.
Black Hawk Down
The story of 160 elite U.S. soldiers who dropped into Mogadishu in October 1993 to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord, but found themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily armed Somalis.
- Release Date
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January 18, 2002
- Runtime
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144 minutes
- Writers
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Ken Nolan
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