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Films, like other aspects of media and mass entertainment and communication, reflect the societies that produce them, and are often a fascinating guide to social change. For example, the contemptuous, caricatured portrayal of Custer in the film "Little Big Man", which came out about 1970, reflects a new questioning of "all-American heroes", in part produced by the Vietnam War. The same with the film "MASH", which came out about the same time. Genuine social and political criticism seems thin on the ground in films at the moment, worldwide but especially in America. Two US films of the late 1990s that did make some interesting social comment through satire were "Election" and "Wag The Dog". I am not sure either film could have been made after September 11, and neither was especially successful at the box office. Steve K. ____________________________________ >From: Rick Rozoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Goebbels In Hollywood: War Movies Strike Back >[WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] >Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 21:15:55 -0800 (PST) > >HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK >--------------------------- > >Daily Telegraph >� >"No one goes to the western for a history lesson." > > >War movies strike back >(Filed: 12/01/2002) >After September 11, Hollywood thought the public would >lose its appetite for action-packed war films. But the >suprise success of movies such as Black Hawk Down - >which tells the story of the US military's ill fated >raid on Mogadishu in 1993, shows us something >startingly different, says Miranda Carter >IN the aftermath of September 11, Hollywood - in >common with the entire American entertainment industry >- needed to have a big rethink. Within a few days of >the attacks, the release dates of a number of action >films, including Arnold Schwarzenegger's Collateral >Damage, the story of terrorists trying to bomb a >skyscraper, were indefinitely delayed. Brian Grazer, >an influential Hollywood player and producer of Apollo >13 among other films, announced that American >audiences would now be expecting escapism, comedies >and "dramas about family love". His words have been >much quoted. The continuing success of the Harry >Potter movie and The Lord of the Rings, which is >currently at number one in the US box-office charts, >seems to suggest that he was right. Patriotic fare: >Black Hawk Down >In November, however, in an unprecedentedly direct >attempt to woo Hollywood, George W Bush's senior >political adviser Karl Rove went to Los Angeles for a >"war summit", to discuss how the film industry could, >among other things, "show the heroism of American >armed forces". Only a few weeks later, it was >announced that a new big-budget war film, Black Hawk >Down, was being brought forward from its original >release date of March 2002, to open in late December >2001. Another war film, Behind Enemy Lines, a >fictionalised account of the 1995 shooting down of a >US pilot behind Bosnian Serb lines - and how he >successfully escaped his would-be captors - came out >just before Christmas. In its first week, Behind Enemy >Lines came second only to Harry Potter at the American >box office. >It is Black Hawk Down, however, that is the real >story. The film has an intriguing pedigree as Ridley >Scott's follow-up to his triumphant Gladiator and >rather less successful Hannibal; it is produced by >Jerry Bruckheimer, who is known for a string of noisy >"popcorn flicks" including the totemic Top Gun and the >lamentable Pearl Harbor. Bruckheimer quickly >identified the appetite for war movies in the wake of >the September 11 atrocities when he said: "It's about >revenge. People want to get back at the guys who did >this, to feel empowered." Black Hawk Down is based on >the best-selling book by Mark Bowden about the 1993 >raid on Mogadishu in Somalia by American special >forces made up of Delta Force operatives and young and >largely inexperienced US Rangers. The mission was to >kidnap two advisers of General Mohammed Farrah Aidid, >the Somali warlord and clan leader whom the US >regarded as the greatest obstacle to peace in the >region. It became the US Army's biggest firefight >since Vietnam. It was also an extraordinary military >disaster in which two Black Hawk helicopters were shot >down in Mogadishu itself, two more were disabled, and >18 American soldiers and more than 1,000 Somalis died. >The next day the bodies of several American soldiers >were dragged naked through the streets of Mogadishu by >angry crowds. Reading Bowden's book, it is hard to >imagine how one could turn this event into the kind of >exciting, patriotic fare to which American audiences >might flock without actually rewriting history - or, >at the very least, leaving an awful lot out. >That, of course, is pretty much exactly what Scott and >Bruckheimer have done. They have eliminated all but >the most cursory of explanations of the context of the >raid, of why the soldiers were unprepared, and why the >Somalis were so furious. Black Hawk Down is a >well-made action-war movie. There is virtually no >character delineation of the soldiers; the Somalis are >a ferocious black wave, a crowd of careering extras >straight out of Zulu. The hideous confusion, deafening >noise and brutality of battle are exhaustingly >portrayed with an unvarnished vividness that recalls >the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan. There is >no overt flag-waving, but the film carries an >unmistakable message. The operation was a noble >failure: it showed the strength of the American army. >Through it all, the soldiers were stoic and brave. >Casualties were caused in large part by the Rangers' >loyalty to one another, and their determination to >"leave no man behind". >Bowden has announced himself pleased with the film. >But his book, almost despite itself, paints a far >broader and more ambiguous portrait of the >circumstances surounding the raid and reaches a rather >different conclusion. Although he is deeply >sympathetic to and admiring of the soldiers, and is >unwilling to apportion blame, his account shows that >the raid was part of a largely ill-planned change of >policy pursued by the new Clinton administration in >1993 - and opposed by the outgoing chief of staff, >Colin Powell. >Previous raids to weaken Aidid had not gone especially >well. One resulted, ludicrously, in the arrest of nine >UN officials. Another raid on a council of Aidid's >Habr Gidr clan left 54 Somalis dead and 215 wounded, >and enormously alienated moderate Somali opinion. >Bowden quotes, at some length, a Delta Force officer >who felt that the Rangers were not sufficiently >experienced and prepared for such raids. The Americans >seemed to have had no idea of the antipathy that their >switch from providers of humanitarian aid to armed >occupiers had stirred up in the general population. >The soldiers' foes were not all Aidid militiamen >- which is what the film suggests. Many were locals >caught in the crossfire who had come to hate the >soldiers. Bowden describes children pointing out >American positions to Somali snipers, and women using >themselves as cover for Somali shooters: both featured >in considerable numbers among the 1,000 Somali dead. >At the end of the film, we see Somalis cheering the >returning soldiers as they escape from Aidid's part of >the city. No such image exists in the book. There is a >long-standing tradition in American myth and movies of >turning great defeats into moral victories, and of >playing around with the truth. As the great film >historian Kevin Brownlow has written: "No one goes to >the western for a history lesson." The Alamo, a sacred >event in American national mythology, was a famous >defeat at the hands of the Mexican army. Ron Howard is >said to be planning a remake of the John Wayne movie. >And until well into the 1950s, the reckless General >Custer was portrayed in Hollywood movies as a doomed >gentleman hero - most memorably by Errol Flynn in the >magically titled They Died With Their Boots On. >It is in this context that we should see Black Hawk >Down: as a western. The film is a last-stand movie - >just like the Alamo, where bravery, honour and >principle count for more than mere victory. The film >critic David Thomson wrote recently that contrary to >reports of their demise, westerns - "myth-making >frauds", as he fondly describes them - have never gone >away, but have simply transmuted themselves into other >genres. Thomson cites Chinatown as an example: honest >law man fights local ranchers over water rights, >there's gun play and the good-hearted bad girl gets >killed. >Black Hawk Down is a cavalry western of a type that it >is no longer possible to make in America now that >massacring Indians is seen as a bad thing. Here, the >Somalis are the Indians: a relentless, savage, >anonymous enemy, pouring over the barricades, >merciless and barbarian, allowing the heroes to >demonstrate their strength and honour in the worst of >circumstances. The point is emphasised by the two >Somali characters who are given lines (in two scenes >that Bowden acknowledges were invented for the film): >an evil, Cuban-cigar-smoking arms dealer and a brutal >militiaman. They sneer at the Americans' attempts to >bring peace: this is tribal country where clans have >been pitted again each other for a millennium. Other >war movies have played the same game. In The Sands of >Iwo Jima, another last-stand movie, the Japanese were >the Indians; in The Green Berets, the Vietnamese were. >It is no coincidence that the great film cowboy John >Wayne starred in both. Westerns have always been the >most potent narratives of America's ideas about >itself. In them, the Indians stood both for the >savagery of the untamed West and as the great obstacle >to America's fulfilment of its Manifest Destiny: to >expand across the continent; to bring civilisation. >Manifest Destiny - a potent phrase in American history >- still has a resonance for some today, in the >fulfilment of America's role as the world's >superpower, and in its mission to bring liberty to new >realms, and now to root out terrorism. >Already, Oscar nominations are being predicted for >Black Hawk Down, which first opened in a few cinemas >in New York and Los Angeles and is due for >"saturation" on January 15, three days before it opens >here. Some cynical observers attribute this less to >its excellence than to Hollywood's keenness to appear >patriotic in the current climate. David Denby, film >critic of The New Yorker, has already responded to its >patriotic appeal, describing it as "spectacular in all >the good ways" and praising its "ideal temper for >war-time: matter-of-fact, stoic, resolute, defiant". A >pity that, like so many westerns, it only tells part >of the truth. > > >__________________________________________________ >Do You Yahoo!? >Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! 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