Tears of the Sun Review
by Bob Bloom (bobbloom AT iquest DOT net)March 7th, 2003
TEARS OF THE SUN (2003) 2 stars out of 4. Starring Bruce Willis, Monica Bellucci, Cole Hauser, Eamonn Walker, Nick Chinlund, Fionnula Flanagan, Malick Bowers and Tom Skerritt. Music by Hans Zimmer. Written by Alex Lasker & Patrick Cirillo. Directed by Antoine Fuqua. Rated R. Running time: 118 minutes.
Tears of the Sun can be viewed as a preamble to our possible war with Iraq.
And how do I know this? Because the film's coda is a quote from Edmund Burke: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
In this overripe fictional tale of heroism, of duty vs. humanity, director Antoine Fuqua, who last guided Denzel Washington to an Oscar in Training Day, takes us to war-torn Nigeria, where the nation's democratic president has been overthrown.
The new military dictatorship begins a program of ethnic cleansing, eliminating rival tribal members as well as the nation's Christian population.
Navy Lt. A.K. Waters (Bruce Willis) and his SEAL squadron of tactical specialists are deployed to rescue Dr. Lena Kendricks (Monica Bellucci), the widow of an American citizen, from a hospital compound that will soon be overrun by the ruthless forces of the new regime.
Complications arise when Kendricks refuses to leave behind her charges. As a ploy, Waters decides to allow her to bring her people to the rendezvous point, intending to put her on a chopper while leaving the rest behind.
However, he has a change of heart after seeing, from the air, the charred aftermath of the massacre at her former compound.
So Waters and his team return to the drop point and decide to march the remaining refugees to safety in Cameroon.
Of course, the mission is compounded when it is learned one of the refugees is really the surviving eldest son of the former president, who also happens to be the hereditary chief of his tribe - thus a symbol for the beleaguered nation to rally around.
Tears of the Sun has a slight aroma of condescension to it, especially in the way the refugees are portrayed and framed.
The film moves in spurts, with many lulls between long marches before the final confrontation between Waters and his small band and the massive forces of the new oppressors.
The movie hammers home its message with the subtlety of an unfettered belch.
Tsk, tsking at atrocities in the name of ethnic cleansing is a no-brainer. It's an easy target for indignation.
And a needless explanation point is added when one of Waters' men asks something like why in God's name do people act like this. Waters' response: "God already left Africa."
Willis portrays Waters as the pure professional soldier: detached and unemotional But he uses his eyes to show the smoldering disgust of the situation creeping through his body, until he can no longer stand by and do nothing.
The situation, however, does not ring true because it lacks a back story. Why does Waters choose this particular mission to make his moral stand? We really know nothing about him or his men, they are merely symbols of American might making things right.
And in today's charged political climate, the jingoism stirred by Tears of the Sun could have deadly repercussions.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at bbloom@journalandcourier.com or at bobbloom@iquest.net. Other reviews by Bloom can be found at www.jconline.com by clicking on movies.
Bloom's reviews also appear on the Web at the Rottentomatoes Web site, www.rottentomatoes.com and at the Internet Movie Database:
http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
