Man Down
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Man Down
Repelling down from a hovering Black Hawk helicopter, running through the streets in a foreign city, bullets hissing past your ears, bombs are exploding all around you, debris flying in all directions, and you have a job to do. In Black Hawk Down, director Ridley Scott mixes a wide variety of camera movement, camera angles, film speed, tone, and music to throw the audience into the thick of the fighting in Mogadishu, Somalia. Scott places the viewer into the boots of Delta Force members, ARMY Rangers, and many other military positions allowing you to experience the nightmare these soldiers are going through. William Arnold stated “Black Hawk Down is a terrific trip movie that – like Private Ryan – plops us right in the middle of a harrowing combat situation, and forces us to experience it for ourselves, as if we were one of the jangled participants” (par. 11).
In the opening scene, “The Start,” composer Hans Zimmer uses an ethnic style of music that relates to the African setting and causes a sense of uneasiness in the audience. The uneasy feeling is taken a step further with the blue color tone which creates a gloomy depressing mood. The camera pans over a man mourning a lifeless body then fades to a black screen, allowing the audience to realize the severity of the situation. The cameras shallow focus on the many people dying from starvation shows how Mohamed Farrah Aidid is affecting the people of Mogadishu, thus, causing a greater output of sympathy from the viewer.
The off screen sound of a helicopter means that the American military has come to help apprehend Aidid and restore peace in Somalia. Once the helicopter appears onscreen, the tempo of the music picks up and becomes similar to the James Bond mission theme. The new music reassures the audience that the American military is there on a mission. This new sense of hope is also reflected by the now yellowish tone.
A new frame from inside the helicopter reveals a bumpy ride as the camera bumps and vibrates with the helicopter. The first time the audience members are placed in the boots of a soldier is when a high camera angle is used to look down on the Red Cross Food Distribution Center through the eyes of S.SGT. Matt Eversmann (Josh Hartnett). The camera perspective then switches to the ground as a vehicle carrying armed men is tracked by the camera and follows the people rushing to get food by using a crane shot. The camera switches to a low angle camera shot to show how desperate the starving people are for food that they begin to fight each other for it, causing the camera to sway back and forth. The music changes from an upbeat style to a more guitar-fueled rock and roll style symbolizing the anger felt by the audience and soldiers.
On another helicopter flight, American oldies can be heard, which conveys that this ride is not a serious flight like to one before. The soldiers are more relaxed and peer out the helicopter door to enjoy the Somalian landscape. The yellowish tone switches to a greenish tone as the frame changes to show Pfc. Todd Blackburn (Orlando Bloom) reporting for duty, suggesting that this is a more serious part. The camera angle shows the soldier behind the desk, checking Blackburn in, is always looking up to Blackburn. Even though Blackburn is younger, he has a more heroic duty, which is being able to go out on the front lines and fight, whereas the other soldier can only type. When Blackburn says, he is there to “kick butt,” a guitar riff starts to play letting those watching know that he is ready to fight. The use of Jimmy Hendrixs “Voodoo Child” when the helicopters leave the base and head for the Bakara Market gives the feeling that something bad is about to take place (Doherty 3).
In scene seven, “Man Down,” as Blackburn grabs for the rope, to repel down, a violin can barely be heard foreshadowing something tragic. The violin is heard just long enough to unconsciously heighten the viewers sense before a rocket-propelled grenade is fired at the hovering helicopter Blackburn is beginning to repel from. When Sergeant Eversmann realizes that Blackburn lost his grip on the rope, and is falling to the ground, the camera cuts to a high angle shot of Blackburn falling as seen from the eyes of Sergeant Eversmann. While looking through Sergeant Eversmanns eyes, the films speed slows down to stress this critical part of the film where things begin to go wrong. Adding to the dramatic effect of the fall is the muffling of all sound except the sound of Blackburns struggling body cutting through the air. The audience might interpret Blackburns fall as being symbolic of the mission going downhill. Once Blackburns body hits the ground, sorrowing music begins to play. The films speed and sound returns to normal as Sergeant Eversmann frantically begins his descent to help Blackburn.
The second Sergeant Eversmann reaches Blackburns motionless body, and the camera moves around them like the swirling sand caused by the helicopter. This camera movement accentuates the chaotic situation going on around them and shows how helpless Sergeant Eversmann feels. The somber music returns as another soldier learns of the fallen Blackburn enhancing the sad emotions running through the audiences body. While the two ARMY Rangers are discussing what happened, the low camera angle creates a feeling of urgency to help Blackburn, as debris falls around them from hostile enemy weapons. The sound of an off-screen bullet hissing past snaps the viewers back into the violent gunfire surrounding them. As the Americans begin to retaliate, the camera uses deep focus to show a Somalian man shooting at the Rangers. A frame switch places the viewer behind a machine gun as the frame jumps with every bullet being fired, and the audience is made to feel like they are actually pulling the trigger.
The frame returns to the injured Blackburn and Sergeant Eversmanns frantic attempt to radio Ranger Captain Mike Steele (Jason Isaacs), whose codename is “Juliet.” When ARMY Ranger “Saltine” is trying to contact “Juliet” and inform them they have a “man down,” the depressing music is intertwined with off screen gunfire to escalate the magnitude of the situation. A transition between frames shows the Joint Operation Command Center and Major General William F. Garrison (Sam Shepard) listening to the off screen radio communication between the two groups of Rangers, with the same depressing music playing faintly. To create a more serious and less dramatic atmosphere in the Command Center, chief photographer Slawomir Idziak adds a greenish tone. Adding to the faint music, greenish tone, and frantic radio conversation are