====================================================================== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. ======================================================================
====================================================================== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. ====================================================================== On 15 October 2013 18:11, Daniel Lindvall <daniel.lindv...@filmint.nu>wrote: > > > Thanks, Seb. I haven't read the book Black Hawk Down. Are you aware of any > specific inaccuracies in the film? I'm aiming to focus here on actual > inaccuracies that have political implications. Like in "Captain Phillips" > when Muse is played by a tall 28 year old who speaks good English, when in > reality he was anything between 15-19, 5'2 and spoke no English. And the > way in which the crews' statements contradict Cpt Phillips story ( > http://nypost.com/2013/10/13/crew-members-deny-captain-phillips-heroism/). > > In terms of direct political implications, the absence in the movie version of Malaysian and Pakistani units of the United Nations, who led the rescue convoy to save the encircled Rangers & Delta Force, was considerably controversial. Musharraf, who I think was still the ruler of Pakistan at the time the movie was released, even went so far as to denounce the film for this slight. There were major complaints too from East Africans and those of East African descent, because the Somalis in the film are clearly played by African-Americans and English actors who are clearly of West African origin. The language they used was also completely different to that of real-life Somalis. It might not seem like much, but to those from the Horn of Africa it would be yet another sign (in a film full of them) that the film's makers just did not care a jot about the racial implications of the film - which are pretty huge. Especially given that, in reality, out of the 150 or so members of Task Force Ranger, 2 were non-white. Two. I remember watching the film in the cinema in 2001 with my brother, also a fan of the book, and book of us almost guffawed at the dumb 'Green/Safe Zone' and 'Red/Hostile Zone' on the map of Mogadishu at one point. This was compounded by the cheering locals who join Hartnett et al when they are running for their lives. This is just hilarious fiction. The reality is that the entirety of the city, even those (the majority, really) who hated Aidid and his clan, hated the Americans more. Why? Same old story of collateral damage/murder. Once the inhabitants of Mogadishu realised that the US soldiers were trapped in the city, *everyone* came out of fight them. Young, old, whatever. This sense of an entire city opposing the Rangers is completely missing in the film. Actually, the general portrayal of the Somalis was well critiqued on Counterpunch<http://www.counterpunch.org/2002/02/28/what-s-wrong-with-black-hawk-down/>by one of the actors, Brendan Sexton III - a man 5 years older than me to the day, bit of meaningless trivia for you. I only mention his age to point out that he was only 20/21 when he filmed Black Hawk Down, so his political awareness was remarkably mature. That's all really for now. Most of the 'wrongness' of the film is really down to a tone more than specific errors - a general grisly enjoyment of the macabre, a bloodthirsty enthusiasm for military hardware and its application that is totally absent from the original book. Solidarity, Seb ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
