2001, 2 hrs 25 min., Rated R for intense, realistic, graphic war violence, and for language.�Dir: Ridley Scott. Based on the book by Mark Bowden. Cast: Josh Hartnett (Staff Sergeant Matt Eversmann), Ewan McGregor (Company Clerk John Grimes), Tom Sizemore (Lt. Colonel Danny McKnight), William Fichtner (Master Sergeant Paul Howe), Ewen Bremner (Specialist Shawn Nelson), Sam Shepard (Major General William Garrison), Ron Eldard (Chief Warrant Officer Mike Durant), Jason Isaacs (Captain Steele).

You want to see an angry American? Picture me while watching the History Channel's two-hour special on "The True Story of Black Hawk Down" that came on earlier this week.

I haven't read Mark Bowden's book that the movie is based on and was in the first two months of college when the events occurred, so I didn't know near enough as I would normally would when dealing with foreign events and modern history. Now what I do know leaves me tense and upset.

The ultimate irony is that our mission to Somalia was coded Operation Restore Hope, sent there to feed the citizens and bring stability to the country. What we didn't realize was that it is difficult to do a humanitarian mission when your opponent doesn't believe in the idea of humanity.

Were we obligated to kill 100,000 guerillas in order to feed a million innocents? Or were we supposed to just storm in with Marines, clear the roads, let the UN feed the innocent, go away, and repeat it all a year later when the warlords regained control? Was it our obligation to end the civil war by taking out the warlords and engaging in nation building? If we don't civilize the country, who will?

I don't care if it sounds un-PC; the people of Somalia needed to be civilized, and we had every right to try and grab warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid (or his top lieutenants in this case). As National Review's Jonah Goldberg points out better than I:

"This infuriating pattern - of calling Americans cruel, repressive, arrogant, racist, etc., for pointing out the cruelty, racism, repression, and arrogance of others - goes to the heart of the Mobius-strip logic of multiculturalism today; all bad things must eventually wend their way back to America. Radical chic and boutique third worldism is so pervasive it's considered "intolerant" to point out the heinous intolerance of other societies."

I'll admit it, I feel no guilt whatsoever by saying that after seeing the footage of American dead being desecrated by Somalis the day after the battle (much like the people had done to Pakistani troops killed a few weeks earlier), I'd have been fine if we dropped an atom bomb in the heart of Mogadishu and restarted the culture from scratch. It's just as well, though, since when America and the international community left, famine and insecurity returned immediately.

The Horn of Africa is a rotting sh*thole, and could use some serious sprucing up.

Some estimates have as many as 300,000 Somalis dying of famine before we intervened, and Aidid and other warlords let (and made) it happen. Even still, that the people couldn't find food or grow it in the first place means that these people need to learn how to farm better, fish, whatever, or just move somewhere more fertile. I can read the protests of that comment now: "How dare you insult Mother Africa and its back-to-earth inhabitants." Hey, I have plenty of respect for the people individually, but not for people as a whole who don't care to join the rest of civilization.

After the embarrassing pictures and number starting leaking out about the deadly battle portrayed in Black Hawk Down, Clinton turned tail at the urging of the Democrat-controlled Congress, pulled our forces out without retaliation and we looked like wimps to the Muslim world, leading terrorists like Osama bin Laden to get the idea that we won't fight back when some of our people are killed. So I don't know if I'm angrier with the Somalis for turning away a gift or Clinton for not righting the wrongs. Should I even be angry? Maybe there's no use in getting emotional about an event I had no control over.

And this is all before I've even seen the movie.

Getting to that, I can say that while I was drawn to the screen during Black Hawk Down, I still wouldn't make it the best movie of the year. Top ten? Sure.

I found it all the better in that it didn't fall into the same-old, same-old war film trap of too much clich�. Instead, we see a bit of backgrounder on the situation and the soldiers, then for an hour-and-a-half we're subjected to all the intensity and horror of warfare that one can handle.

For those not in the no, Black Hawk Down tells the true story of Oct. 3-4, 1993, when a group of Army Rangers were among an assault force sent into downtown Mogadishu to capture several top lieutenants of Somali warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid.

For the first 30 minutes, the raid went exactly as planned. Commandos from the Army's Delta Force seized Aidid's men. The Rangers provided security, and a ground convoy was ready to take the prisoners back to the U.S. base. Pilots from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment flew overhead, providing cover. The only casualty had been a Ranger who had fallen about 70 feet while fast-roping out of a helicopter.

"The mission was a success. We were within minutes of being out of there and having everything done when that helicopter got shot down," said retired Army Col. Danny McKnight, who took part in the battle and sees himself represented on screen by Tom Sizemore. (Help from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Then all hell broke loose.

For those who don't know what happened before the battle, there is a long intro with lots of wordage to explain the U.S. operation, the UN intervention and the enemy, Aidid. I'm glad I saw the History Channel special first, as there's a lot more to it than the filmmakers can squeeze into five minutes of precious film.

The opening bits, the day before the battle, are typical war stuff. We meet a lot of hotshots, comedians and idealists, see pissing contests between Rangers and Delta Force, feel warm and fuzzy witnessing the camaraderie among troops, honor among friends, as some look forward to battle and the more experienced warn of the realities vs. the want to make a difference.

The cast is packed with recognizable stars, all manly men who easily fit in the tough-guy soldier mold. You may not catch the names, but you know the faces.

For those whom you'll know off the bat, Sam Shepard is the commander of the operation as Maj. Gen. William F. Garrison, Josh Hartnett plays Staff Sergeant Eversmann, in his first time in charge of a Chalk, or squad of dozen or so soldiers and Tom Sizemore is the incredibly cocksure Lt. McKnight. Also, Ron Eldard (formerly in "ER" as Julianna Margulies' abusive boyfriend) is Durant, a Nightstalker pilot taken prisoner, and Jason Isaacs (you know, the bastard Brit from The Patriot) is part of the operation as Ranger commander Captain Steele.

About the only one out of place is Ewan McGregor, who tries real hard to keep an American accent, and Ewen Bremner, the stutterer in Pearl Harbor (Hartnett was also in PH) who is used again for comedic bits in BHD.

Case in point that you know the actor, but not necessarily the name is William Fichtner. Always solid and reliable, I never remember his name, and will probably forget it again in a couple of weeks. In Black Hawk Down he is a Delta Force solider, part of U.S. Army's elite counter-terrorism unit full of cocky, brash stud fighters you're glad to have on your side behind enemy lines.

One problem, though, with having so many people involved is that it can be difficult to distinguish some of the soldiers from one another. But Scott didn't try and shrink the numbers for the sake of film, which I'm thankful for, and it's understandable if we couldn't get to know each and every one of the 120+ soldiers who took part, or the 18 Americans killed. I'll rely on Bowden's book (now being shipped via Amazon.com) for more information. You can also check out the websites at the bottom for good background info.

The ultimate example of FUBAR (military term meaning F***ed Up Beyond All Recognition), the Battle is a whirlwind of explosions, bullets, screams, close calls and heroism. While many times it felt like a typical action movie, I remind myself that this is a true story and this stuff actually happened. Unlike other war flicks like Behind Enemy Lines, the enemy doesn't always miss; they frequently hit our guys and do serious damage to our initiative.

This is no rah-rah U.S.A. film, either. I didn't cheer as our troops had to cut down one Somali after another. I continue to be amazed, though, at the quality of our soliders.

After seeing the History Channel two-hour special beforehand, I know all the names and what's coming next, which makes it all the more real. I don't know if I'd rather know more or less going in. Guess we'll never know, but I can say that seeing the special first may have made me all the more tense and ticked off before the first bullets even whizzed by our troops.

Thankfully Scott didn't let producer Jerry Bruckheimer water down the film with his typical clich�s representing every film ever made with action just for action's sake. No, every bit of the battle has a specific reason, and not just because it really occurred.

And Black Hawk Down is only about the two-and-a-half days immediately leading up to and the end of the battle. It barely notes what happened to the captive Durant (released 11 days later), and that Clinton skedaddles our troops out of the region, leaving the Muslim world believing that we're easily intimidated. But I remind myself, this isn't about Third World politics, but a dramatization of the men who fought and died during a botched operation in incredibly hostile territory.

What really gets my Underoos in a twist is that some critics, not to mention Somalis now living in the U.S., are complaining that director Ridley Scott should have given the view from both sides of the conflict.

Yes (sarcasm alert!), we should always give plenty of airtime to a group of warlords and their savage minions. I am shocked and appalled that Scott didn't bother to look into why they were starving their own countrymen in order to buy arms and harbor terrorists.

Apparently, native Somalis disagree. When a bootleg copy of the movie was screened in Mogadishu, the audience hooted and hollered every time an American serviceman was killed. One man told CNN, "As you can see, Somalis are brave fighters. If the Americans come back to fight us, we shall defeat them again."

And really, the protestors should be thankful that Black Hawk Down didn't show the events of the next days, as Somalis dragged American corpses through the streets, defiling them before the television cameras.

What American audiences will see, however, is a group of American soldiers who are true heroes, who are amazingly resilient in the face of unbelievable horrors and danger. All the men who participated in an ultimately fruitless mission were heroes, from the Rangers to the pilots to the Delta Force.

Oliver North weighs in with comparisons to other war films that elevates Black Hawk Down to another level:

"This is no Saving Private Ryan with fictional characters "gallantly" carrying out a fictional mission. This is no Pearl Harbor with a fictional love-triangle "bravely" built around a historic event. The events in Black Hawk Down actually happened. The actors portray real soldiers. The battle scenes, from the chaos of the helo-borne insert -- all the way to the survivors' eventual rescue -- are as authentic as any depiction of combat I have ever seen this side of the real thing. "

I'm thankful that there are men and women who put their lives in harm's way every day, in order to make sure that we never have to worry about a world where people don't believe in the idea of humanity, that a life of freedom is more important than one full of men who would ruin a country, starve his own people and use religion to gain personal power.

The verdict: -- It's not entertainment, it's not fun, but it is real.

For more information:

> For details from the original newspaper series in The Philadelphia Inquirer: blackhawkdown.philly.com

> For the official movie site: www.spe.sony.com/movies/blackhawkdown

> PBS site on a Frontline show of the Battle of Mogadishu: www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ambush/

> For a timeline on the battle: www.nightstalkers.com/tfranger/blackhawkdown/timeline.html

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