Braxton Taylor
Every American war movie fan is probably familiar with the Battle of Mogadishu. It’s also known as the “Black Hawk Down” incident, borrowed from the title of an exhaustively researched book and its subsequent film adaptation. In October 1993, the United States sent a task force into the Somali capital to capture two lieutenants of a powerful warlord. They would emerge successfully, but the victory didn’t feel like one: In the face of unexpected, overwhelming opposition on the ground, a mission that should have taken one hour lasted through the night and resulted in the deaths of 18 American service members and hundreds of Somali militants.
Though both U.S. Army leaders and journalists have meticulously documented how the Battle of Mogadishu unfolded decades ago, Netflix is bringing something new to our memory of the incident. In its upcoming documentary series, “Surviving Black Hawk Down,” the streamer is bringing together firsthand accounts of the day from both sides of the fighting, which includes Army veterans and Somali fighters.
On Oct. 3, 1993, Task Force Ranger — composed of soldiers from Delta Force, the 75th Ranger Regiment and 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment — were sent into Somalia’s capital to capture lieutenants of the warlord Mohammad Farah Aidid. The mission itself was a success, but what should have been a quick, snatch-and-grab mission became a rescue mission when Somali National Alliance (SNA) fighters shot down one of the Americans’ UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.
The operation soon devolved into a prolonged, overnight battle as two more helicopters went down and residents of Mogadishu and SNA fighters flooded into the streets to fight the American incursion. It became the deadliest day for the U.S. military since the Vietnam War, punctuated by the images of dead Americans dragged through the streets of the city. Moreover, one of the Army’s pilots, Chief Warrant Officer Mike Durant, went missing, captured by Aidid’s militia. Two Delta Force snipers, Master Sgt. Gary Gordon and Sgt. 1st Class Randy Shughart, died trying to protect him; they would posthumously receive the Medal of Honor for their valor in defending their wounded comrade.
Mark Bowden’s 1999 book, “Black Hawk Down: A Study of Modern War,” exhaustively detailed the battle and the events around the Battle of Mogadishu, interviewing the participants who fought in the Somali capital that day. Two years later, director Ridley Scott’s film adaptation of the book became an instant war movie classic. Scott, for all his efforts, could not have told the complete story of the daylong battle detailed in Bowden’s book. In “Surviving Black Hawk Down,” Netflix gets the complete, firsthand account of the American side of the fight from the Army veterans who were there, including Durant.
The documentary also talks to the then-residents of Mogadishu. Some of those interviewed were militia fighters who took a disproportionate number of killed and wounded fighting the Americans. But there are also accounts from civilian noncombatants who feared for their lives as the battle raged across the city. One account even comes from a photographer who brought his video camera to document the fight from the Somali side.
These firsthand accounts, Somali and American, bring an incredible new perspective to the story three decades later. Netflix punctuates their personal points of view in the series through reenactments and footage taken from the fighting on the ground
“Surviving Black Hawk Down” is a three-part documentary series produced by Ridley Scott Associates and directed by Jack MacInnes. It comes out Feb. 10, 2025, on Netflix.
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