Surviving black hawk down: The true story behind Ridley Scott’s film and netflix’s hit docuseries
Ridley Scott’s 2001 war film Black Hawk Down was met with both acclaim and controversy upon its release. The gripping action movie, which starred Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, and Eric Bana, depicted the harrowing true events of the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia. The film was a commercial success, earning Academy Awards for editing and sound, but it was also criticised for its historical inaccuracies and its failure to fully acknowledge Somali casualties.
The film was based on Mark Bowden’s 1999 book Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War, though the screenplay by Ken Nolan condensed its detailed account to fit a cinematic narrative. Some critics, including Repo Man director Alex Cox, accused the film of whitewashing history and questioned why the deaths of Somali civilians had been largely overlooked. Additionally, controversy arose over McGregor’s character, as the real-life soldier he was based on had later been convicted of a serious crime.
Now, netflix’s three-part documentary series Surviving Black Hawk Down, produced by Ridley Scott Associates and directed by Jack MacInnes, offers a fresh perspective on the infamous battle. Unlike the film, the documentary revisits the events through the voices of both American and Somali survivors, providing a more balanced view of the conflict.
The battle of mogadishu: A mission gone wrong
The roots of the battle stretch back to the somali civil war, which escalated following the fall of President Siad Barre’s authoritarian regime in 1991. The subsequent power struggle led to widespread famine, prompting the intervention of United Nations peacekeepers. However, tensions grew between the peacekeepers and local militia leader Mohamed Farrah Aidid, whom the US military sought to neutralise through operation gothic serpent.
On 3rd and 4th october 1993, American forces launched a mission to capture key figures in Aidid’s militia, but they faced fierce resistance. The operation took a disastrous turn when two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down by insurgents using rocket-propelled grenades. What was meant to be a swift military operation turned into a desperate rescue mission. As Bowden described in his book: “Insurgents shot down two American Black Hawk helicopters with rocket-propelled grenades. When about 90 US Rangers and Delta Force operators rushed to the rescue, they were caught in an intense exchange of gunfire and trapped overnight.”
The battle resulted in the deaths of 18 US soldiers, whose bodies were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu—a shocking image that shaped American perceptions of the conflict. However, the estimated 1,000 Somali casualties received little international attention, a point later highlighted by The Independent journalist Steve Bloomfield: “Eighteen US Army Rangers were killed in the firefight that followed. An estimated 1,000 Somalis died that day too, although they didn’t get a Hollywood film made about them.”
A new perspective on the battle
Surviving Black Hawk Down attempts to address the imbalance by including perspectives from Mogadishu residents and local fighters, as well as American soldiers. Among the voices featured is Saido Mohamed, a civilian whose home was seized by US troops seeking shelter from Aidid’s militia. Her testimony, spanning two episodes, details her terror as she found herself caught between the opposing forces.
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The documentary also captures the unfiltered brutality of war. One US soldier recalls his grim resolve during the battle: “I decided to kill everybody that I could see that was hostile or acting hostile in any way. I don’t think my finger came off the trigger for very long at all.” Meanwhile, a Somali fighter reflects on the moment the American helicopters were shot down: “The fall of the helicopter was the happiest moment I ever had. My gun never had a rest.”
In the aftermath of the battle, US troops withdrew from Somalia, followed soon after by the UN peacekeeping mission. The country was left to descend further into chaos. As Bloomfield observed: “Somalia was left to slide back into anarchy.”
A must-watch documentary
While Black Hawk Down attempted to immortalise the bravery of US troops, it largely ignored the broader devastation of the battle. Surviving Black Hawk Down offers a much-needed reassessment, giving a voice to those who had previously been left out of the narrative.
The docuseries is now streaming on netflix, providing an eye-opening account of one of modern warfare’s most infamous encounters.
