Parents' Guide to Surviving Black Hawk Down

Produced by Ridley Scott, this docuseries offers disturbing insights into what happened before, during, and after the violent battle between the U.S. military and Somali insurgents made famous by Scott's 2002 movie Black Hawk Down. It addresses some of the mistakes the U.S. military made prior to October 3, 1993, and what went wrong once they entered Mogadishu. Former U.S. military members describe being surrounded by rebels and in the line of fire, desperately trying to help injured team members while trapped and awaiting rescue. Some also talk about watching the Black Hawk helicopters crash down into the streets in disbelief, and how they were unprepared to defend themselves against the insurgents because, as U.S. elite fighters, they were only trained to fight offensively. Adding to this is an interview with Chief Warrant Officer Michael Durant, who was taken hostage after surviving the crash of the helicopter he was piloting. These narratives also offer honest accounts of the brutality of some of their actions, including indiscriminately gunning down hundreds of people on the streets out of fear, anger, and retribution.

As the pace of the series moves faster it becomes quite dramatic, but unlike the Hollywood version of the story, Surviving Black Hawk Down also gives voice to the Somalians. Former Aidid militants talk about how they viewed peace keepers and U.S. forces as foreign aggressors, and how the United States underestimated how hard they would fight to protect their country. Meanwhile, innocent civilians share what it was like to be trapped in the middle of the fray, the fear they felt, and the losses they sustained, including the death of some of their children. It's not an easy watch, but the overall series underscores how complicated the political and military situation in Somalia was, and what was sacrificed by those who experienced it.