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Law on Film
Law on Film explores the rich connections between law and film. Law is critical to many films, even to those that are not obviously about the legal world. Film, meanwhile, tells us a lot about the law, especially how it is perceived and portrayed. The podcast is created and hosted by Jonathan Hafetz, a lawyer, legal scholar, and film buff. Each episode, Jonathan and a guest expert will examine a film that is noteworthy from a legal perspective. What does the film get right about the law and what does it get wrong? Why is law important to understanding the film? And what does the film teach about law's relationship to the larger society and culture that surrounds it. Whether you're interested in law, film, or an entertaining discussion, there will be something here for you.
Law on Film
Black Hawk Down (Guest: Greg Fox) (episode 34)
Black Hawk Down (2001) describes the plight of the U.S. crew of a Black Hawk helicopter that is shot down during the Battle of Mogadishu during the civil war in Somalia in October 1993. The battle resulted in the death of 18 American soldiers and hundreds of Somalis; it also prompted the U.S. withdrawal from Somalia after images of dead U.S. soldiers being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu by enraged Somalis were broadcast on American television. Directed by Ridley Scott from a book by Mark Bowden, Black Hawk Down is a gritty action movie that captures the brutal nature of urban warfare. It also provides a window into a host of complex international legal and political issues surrounding humanitarian intervention in the aftermath of the Cold War. Joining me is Greg Fox, Professor and Director of the Program for International Legal Studies at Wayne State University in Detroit. Professor Fox is a widely cited authority on international law and international organizations and a leader in a variety of academic and professional organizations.
Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
1:40 A primer on Somalia and its history
6:40 The legal framework for the international humanitarian intervention
9:50 The opportunities for intervention after the end of the Cold War
15:33 Preparing to go into Somalia
19:16 The pros and cons of intervention
23:04 The U.S. shift on military intervention after the Vietnam War
24:43 The challenges of intervening in civil wars
33:47 International humanitarian law and urban warfare
43:14 Legacies of the Battle of Mogadishu
52:06 Internal debates within the UN over humanitarian intervention
54:55 What happened in Somalia after the Battle of Mogadishu
Further reading:
Bowden, Mark, Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War (1999)
Carroll, Jonathan, “Courage Under Fire: Reevaluating Black Hawk Down and the Battle of Mogadishu,” 29 (3) War in History 704 (July 2022)
Fox, Gregory H., Humanitarian Occupation (2008)
Hakimi, Monica, “Toward a Legal Theory on the Responsibility to Protect,” 39(2) Yale J. Int’l L. 247 (2014)
Lee, Thomas H., “The Law of War and the Responsibility to Protect Civilians: A Reinterpretation,” 55 Harv. Int’l L.J. 251 (2014)
Luttwak, Edward N., “Give War a Chance,” Foreign Affairs (July/August 1999)
Hathaway, Oona A. & Hartig, Luke, “Still at War: The United States in Somalia,” Just Security (Mar. 31, 2022)
Wheeler, Nicholas J., Saving Strangers: Humanitarian Intervention in International Society (2002)
Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember.
For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.html
You can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.com
You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz
You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilm
You can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast