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Season 1 – Surviving Black Hawk Down

Play trailer 1:44 Poster for Season 1 – Surviving Black Hawk Down 2025 Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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100% Tomatometer 6 Reviews 67% Popcornmeter 50+ Ratings
In extraordinary detail, US soldiers and Somali fighters recall the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu and the now-famous downing of three Black Hawk helicopters.
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Surviving Black Hawk Down — Season 1

Critics Reviews

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Andrew Anthony Observer (UK) While it powerfully conveys the trauma of warfare, the effect is undermined by the relentless re-enactments of the battle scenes, which double its running time. Rated: 3/5 Feb 18, 2025 Full Review Tatat Bunnag Bangkok Post For those who appreciated Black Hawk Down but want a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of the Battle of Mogadishu, Surviving Black Hawk Down is essential viewing. Feb 14, 2025 Full Review Adam Sweeting The Arts Desk ...while the series gives us the first-hand perspectives of American Rangers like David Diemer... and Randy Ramaglia and badly-injured chopper pilot Mike Durant, it also shines a light on the Somalis’ view of what was dubbed the Battle of Mogadishu Rated: 3/5 Feb 13, 2025 Full Review Benji Wilson Irish Independent Surviving Black Hawk Down does its utmost to render the absolute chaos of the battle while still offering context and hindsight. Feb 13, 2025 Full Review Joel Keller Decider Surviving Black Hawk Down is an engaging docuseries because it goes over the Battle of Mogadishu in an amount of detail that most people have never been exposed to before. Feb 11, 2025 Full Review Daniel Hart Ready Steady Cut Surviving Black Hawk Down offers a balanced, raw look at the 1993 Mogadishu battle, mixing cinematic reenactments with diverse perspectives, though it somehow manages to drag with three episodes. Rated: 3.5/5 Feb 10, 2025 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Coni V Engaging and somewhat rich documentary with some beautiful shots and direction. Unfortunately, it gets bogged down in an over the top effort to provoke emotions and be artistic for its own sake. It's greater goal is to provoke reflection on the humanity involved and eroded in war (with many close shots of face, intense lightning, plenty of interviewees) but in this effort it forgot to dive down into many of the most interesting elements of the story and easily glosses over its critical elements. Yet another Netflix documentary with incredible access to eye-witnesses, high quality production, fantastic insight that you may not read about, but executed in a glossed over/cookie cutter way to provoke easy emotion, easy takeaways, and satisfy enough of the audience's short attentions spans. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 06/25/25 Full Review Connor P The pacing is a slog getting bogged down in uneccessary detail at times while spending no time to dig into the important claims made by those being interviewed or explaining the important context of the conflict. The conflict is framed in terms of US vs Somalis and the civil war is left ambiguous. Claims are made that Americans shot women and children intentionally but that is not really explored despite being very important. The show seems uninterested in probing deeper on important questions but is fine wasting time on meandering scene setting that eats up most of the run time. Regardless of the viewpoint you go into the documentary with, it's unlikely you'll come away thinking anything different about the conflict because you're unlikely to learn anything meaningful. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 06/01/25 Full Review Wally W A compelling and well-produced documentary that offers a balanced account of the Battle of Mogadishu. It presents perspectives from all sides involved, providing viewers with a nuanced understanding of the conflict. Most notably, it captures the human dimension of military operations, shedding light on the personal stories behind the headlines and the real cost of war." Rated 4 out of 5 stars 05/21/25 Full Review Prabhudas K Nicely compiled, I certainly will give credit for this. American soldiers are patriots and brave, absolutely no doubt about that. However, the documentary seem to project this as tragedy for USA for 18 of their soldiers being killed on this fateful incident. What about the ther side, we have hundreds of Somailis who got killed that day, most of them civilians. Was it not a tragedy ? People should realize, for the world their lives matter equally as well. The documentary should not lead the audience to one sided opinion. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 04/03/25 Full Review Mitchell W An incredibly well balanced and nuanced look at a battle. Beautifully expressing the humanity, emotions and memories of both sides. Ultimately really makes you reflect on war and its brokenness to all who are involved. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/22/25 Full Review Madden S Enjoyed the insight provided by the rangers and delta force members. The most controversial part of the doc for many viewers will be the perspective provided by the militia members. Like others, I found it hard to take in their POV but overall it's worth watching to get a real sense of what happened with the brutality of the fubar that unfolded. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/11/25 Full Review Read all reviews
Surviving Black Hawk Down — Season 1

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Episodes

Episode 1 Aired Feb 10, 2025 This Is Not New York Somalia, 1993; an effort to end famine and civil war turns violent when a mission to take out a rebel leader ends in the death of multiple civilians. Details Episode 2 Aired Feb 10, 2025 A Wall of Lead A routine raid to capture two of Aidid's lieutenants turns into a chaotic rescue operation when the Army Rangers are met with fierce Somali counterfire. Details Episode 3 Aired Feb 10, 2025 No Way Out News of the failed Black Hawk operation unsettles America as video of a captive pilot disturbs many worldwide. Details

Season Info

Director
Sam Hobkinson, Jack MacInnes
Network
Netflix
Genre
Documentary
Release Date
Feb 10, 2025
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