Black Hawk Down – More than just blood and gore

Unlike the typical wartime movie which is pretty much just loaded with plenty of honour, glory, blood, gore as well as fanciful and devastating weapons. Black Hawk Down is a movie created in memory of soldiers who had perished in the military operation that took place in Somalia. It offers an excellent insight to what happens at the frontline, there is no joy, glory is not guaranteed(in this particular operation, they failed). Rather, the focus is on the hardships and pain of losing your buddy who had fought hand-in-hand with you. This short music video encapsulate the essence of the movie itself, using many of the touching and sorrowful moments to capture the audience’s attention. Better than the actual trailer itself, this short clip will convince you to watch the movie(if you haven’t done so), and persuade you to re-watch it(if you have already watched it). In this music video, none of the dialogue in the scenes can be heard, as the background music is playing. However, through the various scenes we can see how non-verbal cues can be even more effective than verbal cues in allowing the audience to interpret the movie. Although you may have difficulty in making sense of the song(it’s not english), the translated lyrics is a very powerful reflection of the movie too(will be looking at it as well).

First scene, a massive contingent of black hawks were despatched on a mission, the troops onboard will be doing hostile insertion from the choppers. It was a majestic first scene, a typical scene where the US army flexed its military muscle, determined to complete the mission with success. However things went terribly wrong right from the start, something that they could really do without. While the troops were repelling down from the black hawks, one of the chopper was attacked by a militant using RPG(rocket-propelled grenade). In bid to evade the incoming threat, the pilot was forced to swerve the chopper sideways. Unfortunately at this spilt moment, one of the rangers was getting ready to repel down, the unanticipated swerve threw him off balance and he fell overboard. His friend could only watch on helplessly as he disappeared into a cloud dust stirred up by the chopper’s rotating blades. Down at ground zero, the rangers who have successfully negotiated the first obstacle found themselves trapped in a hostile environment. Enemy fire were coming from all directions, the rangers were barely able to make out the directions when they found themselves under a barrage of fire from the militants. Their immediate priority is to set up a safety parameter, so that the other troops can land safely. At the same time, that will allow the medics to tend to the soldier who had fallen from the chopper. It was not an easy task as bullets were whizzing past them and they were in unfamiliar territory. What made things worse is that the chopper was unable to land to evacuate the injured soldier, that was why all the rangers had to repel down from the black hawks in the first place.

In the following scene, a few rangers were attending to one of their brother who was shot in the midst of an intensive gun battle. They need to extract the bullet and stabilise his condition immediately, as there is no way to evacuate any injured soldiers. They were alone, and they have to do everything they can within their abilities to save him. They scrambled to extract the bullet and apply pressure on the wound to slow down blood loss. Doses after doses of morphine was given to him, the pain was excruciating. Despite having the bullet extracted, everyone knows that his time is running out, he might not live to see the next sunrise. It was a heart-breaking moment, despite doing whatever they can, they still have to resign to fate that they will be losing yet another brother. It did not take long before the injured soldier took his final breath, one of the ranger continued to do CPR on him, believing that he will come back to life. He was infuriated that fate has so cruelly taken away one of his brother, he is not willing to accept it. Despair and helplessness were seen on the faces of others, as they were forced to accept the reality that they have lost yet another brother. As for the fallen ranger, his expression is as if that he has something that he wants to say, but he ran out of time to say it. He has unfinished business, and he wants his fellow brothers to accomplish it on his behalf.

The next scene is a combination of three separate scenes in the movie. In one of the scene, one of the black hawk was shot down by militants. The remaining two crew who survived the crash were busy fending off the assaults from the militants, despite being heavily outnumbered both of them fought on valiantly. Although they know that they probably will still end up dead when their bullets run out, they fought out, holding hope that other rangers will arrive soon to assist them. One of them was killed by a shot to his head shortly after, leaving his friend stranded. It did not take long before he too was gunned down by the mob closing in on the wreckage that was providing him cover from the barrage of fire. This was interrupted by another scene briefly in intervals, in which one ranger was yelling out to his fellow ranger, warning him about incoming threat. That was just about enough to save his life, for that moment. This scene depict a close call scenario, in which the soldier was only meters away from losing his life if not for his friend. His friend ran over immediately to check that he was doing fine, and was happy to see him still alive and kicking. That shows the close bond among the soldiers, they treat each other just like brothers. It was a battle that they might not win, but if they stay close and fight together, there is still an outside chance of making it out alive. Another scene showed one of the ranger looking at a photo with his wife and son, knowing that will be his last chance of seeing his loved ones. It may be just a very simple move, but this move contain a lot of emotions and feelings.

Moving on, the next scene is another close call scenario. One of the ranger was leaving a house and moving into an alley. As he was stepping out of the house, he slipped and fell. It was a life-saving slip, as it allow his to dodge a few rounds of bullets “intended” for him initially. After overcoming a series of challenges, a small platoon of them managed to make it out of the hostile zone proceed back to the nearest UN camp. The picture shows the group of them running together, symbolising that they have conquered the obstacles together as a unit, and that helped them get out of a nearly impossible situation. That meant a lot to them, it is not merely about getting out alive. It is about overcoming all the odds stacked against them, they rose to the occasion and won. It was not a victory by outguning their enemies, but by outwitting and outsmarting their enemies.

Next, one of the ranger was spending time beside the body of his fallen brother in the mortuary. The flashbacks were going through his mind at this moment, all the dangers they have been exposed together, the close shave they had. All these are now memories that he will hold dear to his heart, in memory of his fallen brother. The dead ranger looked more at peace now, seemingly knowing that all his brothers had made it out alive and safe. Perhaps relieved that someone will be able to tell people his story on his behalf, about how bravely he fought. The final scene is perhaps the most gory in the whole music video. It shows a dying ranger whose lower body has been blown away by a grenade, he has only a few more breaths left. His fellow ranger walked over to him and held his hand tightly, as if to tell him to go in peace, the suffering will end very soon. It was not meant to be a disturbing scene, but the main purpose perhaps is to depict how the rangers show genuine care and concern for each other, even right up till the final moments of a dying brother. It does not matter if he is missing his lower body, missing one limb or two, he is after all part of the team that embark of this dangerous mission. And they should be treated with the same respect and honour as everyone else who made it out alive.

While watching this music video, it is not hard to detect the regular use of kinesics(body movements, hand actions, showing of care and concern), oculesics and haptics are especially dominant in the scene where the young ranger died in the presence of his friends. At the same time, the background environment serve as a reminder of the courage shown by those rangers in battling so hard, not just for their own survival, but for everyone who was with the team.

The song is sang in Breton, the celtic language of Brittany. It reflects the feelings of those soldiers who made it out alive, but were hapless that some of their fellow comrades were killed in the operation. It says that they will always be waiting for their fallen brothers to come back, which actually means that although they know that these fallen brothers will not be coming back. They still hold out hope that one day, they will meet each other. Only that, their wounded heart will heal, as the pain of losing someone so close to them is unbearable. Their absense were so sorely missed that those who are still alive would not mind joining their brothers in the “other realm”, for it is a land of peace and calm, away from the brutality of wars. Until that day happens, they will be held close to their hearts in memory as a great brother.

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