This New Film Highlights the Real Story Behind Black Hawk Down; Involving Malaysian Soldiers!
Remember Ridley Scott’s epic Black Hawk Down film in 2001? The movie featured the likes of Tom Hardy, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom and other A-listers and hit 175 million dollars at the box office. Although stated that the movie was based on a true rescue mission in Mogadishu, the film didn’t highlight the true heroes of the mission: who were Malaysians.
Thankfully, Berjaya Pictures spent a total of RM20 million to produce MALBATT: Misi Bakara and allow the heroes to tell their side of the story. Slated to be the most expensive Malaysian film, the story follows the incident behind the Black Hawk Down tragedy, which witnessed the courageous actions of the 19th Royal Malay Regiment (RAMD) Mechanized members from the Malaysian Battalion (Malbatt) 1 in rescuing 70 US Rangers trapped in Bakara Market, Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993.
MALBATT, which stands for Malaysian Battalion, will feature a lineup of Malaysian A-listers including the likes of Bront Palarae, Shaheizy Sam, Hairul Azreen, Zahiril Adzim, Iedil Dzuhrie, Adlin Aman Ramlie, Fauzi Nawawi, Tony Eusoff, Syazwan Zulkifly, Dafi Ismail Sabri, Taufiq Hanafi, Nafiez Zaidi, Dini Schatzmann, Gambit Saifullah, Safwan Nazri, Ikhram Juhari, and Theebaan G.
Directed by Adrian Teh, the Paskal director revealed that the filming process was challenging, as his crew shot the film at a location in Gaziantep, southern Turkiye, bordering Syria.
Adrian also claimed that 70% of the production cost was allocated for field expenses, such as building military equipment. "For this film, we had to reorder the uniforms worn by the battalion members, which cost hundreds of thousands of ringgit. We also rebuilt sets and military equipment. The increased cost is also due to us using experienced actors and shooting overseas, specifically in southern Turkey," he said during the film's press conference and launch in the capital city recently.
Another interesting aspect of it is MALBATT: Misi Bakara is the presence of Paul Biddiss during the production of the film. Served in Armed Forces for more than 20 years, Paul Biddiss played a pivotal role in Hollywood films such as Jurassic Park: Dominion, Kingsman: The Secret Service, 1917 and more.
The film will be out as soon as August so be ready to check them out soon!