Tears of the Sun
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| Tears of the Sun | |
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 Tears of the Sun film poster. |
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| Directed by | Antoine Fuqua |
| Produced by | Ian Bryce Mike Lobell Arnold Rifkin |
| Written by | Alex Lasker Patrick Cirillo |
| Starring | Bruce Willis Monica Bellucci Cole Hauser |
| Music by | Hans Zimmer |
| Cinematography | Mauro Fiore |
| Editing by | Conrad Buff |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | U.S. March 3, 2003 |
| Running time | 121 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $70,000,000 |
| Official website | |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Tears of the Sun is a 2003 war film directed by Antoine Fuqua depicting a rescue mission by U.S. Navy SEALs in the midst of a fictional civil war in the West African country of Nigeria. The film stars Bruce Willis as the commander of the SEAL team sent into the middle of this conflict to rescue a US citizen played by Monica Bellucci. Willis produced the film through his Cheyenne Enterprises production company and took its title from an early name for the Die Hard sequel; agreeing to the Die Hard project on the condition that he could use its subtitle for his own film.
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[edit] Plot
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The film begins with a montage of news footage illustrating a violent coup that is taking place in Nigeria, overthrowing the Presidential family and establishing a dictatorship under the rebel general Yakubu. The Fulani rebels proceed to execute a violent ethnic cleansing by the tribe from the northern side of the country against the Igbo (“Ee•bow”) tribes in the southern region. We then join a squad of SH-60B Seahawk helicopters on approach to the USS Harry S. Truman off the coast of Africa, and a news reporter on the flight deck reporting on the coup taking place. His report is interrupted by the news of the whole presidential family being assassinated by rebel forces.
Lieutenant Waters and his team of Navy SEALs disembark from a helicopter, apparently returning from a mission to extract American citizens from the embassy. They are greeted by Captain Bill Rhodes on the deck who immediately informs them that they’ll need to be reinserted to extract a “critical personality” immediately. After refitting for the next mission, eating and having their wounds tended by the medic they meet in the ships briefing room to get the details of their mission. They’re instructed that they will Halo Jump over Cameroon and into the jungle outside of a small Catholic mission where they will find Dr. Lena Fiore Kendricks who is an American citizen by marriage. Their secondary mission is to extract the priest and two nuns who run the mission if they are willing to go with them. Once they have their package they are to make the twelve-klick hike to the designated extraction point where they’ll be flown out by helicopter.
The mission begins precisely as planned with the SEAL team dropping from the aircraft and free falling over the target area. A young Nigerian woman is shown approaching the lake near the mission to get water when two of the SEALs suddenly emerge from the depths, however before she can let out a scream Lieutenant Waters grabs her from behind covering her screams. Waters has the woman lead him to Dr. Kendricks in the infirmary where him and Doc startle her and the nuns as they’re in the process of operating on a war victim. After brief deliberation Waters wins an audience with Kendricks where he informs her of the rebel company approaching the mission and that their orders are to extract U.S. personnel. Kendricks refuses to leave the mission without the people under her care, Waters contacts Rhodes to explore their options and after a short and ambiguous conversation concedes to the doctor that they will take the refugees that can move under their own power with them. Kendricks agrees and immediately begins to round up every able-bodied refugee to make the hike. Irritated and behind schedule the SEALs start to move out with the refugees after daybreak. Their journey proves to be slow and hindered as guiding forty injured and wounded refugees is a difficult task.
After night has fallen they decide to take a short break to allow the refugees to rest and give Dr. Kendricks time to administer medication to those that need it. Waters has his team setup a defensive perimeter around the refugees. Moments after the perimeter is set Lake, Waters’ point man reports guerilla rebels are approaching their position quickly. Waters informs Dr. Kendricks and the SEALs and refugees take cover in the dense jungle as the rebels pass by on the trail. They’re stopped momentarily when a baby’s mumbled cries are briefly heard, tensions are raised when the rebels briefly prod through the vegetation in search of any possible refugees as the SEALs anxiously anticipate having to engage. The rebels don’t discover them however and continue on their way, though the refugees are nearly caught when a straggling tailgunner witnesses Dr. Kendricks coming out from cover but is quickly dispatched by Waters who rushes out from cover and stabs him in the neck. Dr. Kendricks expresses her concern to Waters that the rebels are on their way to the mission, but Waters is determined to carry out their mission and they continue on their way.
They finally reach their landing zone and contact the helicopters that are en route, upon their landing the Waters initial plan is revealed the SEALs suddenly turn on the refugees and hold them at gun point as Waters forces Dr. Kendricks onto the helicopter and the SEAL team collapses back for a swift extraction leaving the refugees stranded in the middle of the jungle without any protection against rebel forces. As they’re on their way out of the country the helicopters pass over the mission and the pilot notifies Waters to observe out of the right side that they discovered the mission had been raided and destroyed just as Kendricks had predicted. Feeling a deep conviction Waters orders the helicopter to turn around and return to the extraction point where they disembark and regroup with the refugees deciding to execute their back up plan of heading to the Cameroon border.
They continue on their way learning as they go that they’re mysteriously being tracked by a large body of rebel soldiers for unknown reasons. As they continuously attempt to escape and evade their pursuers, they encounter a small village that is in the process of being wiped out by rebel soldiers. Realizing that they have an opportunity to stop it, Waters orders the refugees to remain on the high ground while his marksmen Flea and Silk get into the position and the rest close in on the village to take out all of the rebel fighters. They execute their plan with surgical precision but are shocked to find a mutilated woman in one of the huts, learning that what has happened to her is common practice amongst the rebels. After the fighting has subsided and the refugees are permitted to enter the village they arm themselves with the weapons of the rebels and the group continues on their way to Cameroon.
Slowly but surely the hardened exteriors of the SEAL veterans begin to crack down and their humanity shines through as they bear witness to the horrid atrocities committed by the rebel fighters. While continuing on their way, Slo continues to investigate their pursuers and realizes that somebody within the group is transmitting a signal that’s allowing the rebels to identify their location and close in with speed. At that time it is also revealed that the reason for this is because there is in fact a surviving member of the Presidential family, Samuel Azuka’s son Arthur and that it’s very important for the rebels to ensure his death. Waters is hurt by Dr. Kendricks mistrust because she knew all along yet didn’t inform him.
After Red makes an attempt to slow their pursuers by rigging a claymore mine to the dead body of the traitor (while really only aggravating the leader of the group to summon more troops to the SEALs predicted location), the SEALs regroup and decide that they’re going to do everything they can get the refugees to safety.
As they wait in the tall grass of the jungle a massive fire fight breaks out between the SEALs and the hundreds of rebels hidden in the trees. Soon the SEALs form a defensive line against the rebels as they order the refugees to retreat to the tree line where the Cameroon border is in sight. At this time Zee radios in to the Truman for air support and two F/A-18 Hornets take off from the flight deck en route to their location.
The SEALs continue to hold the line as they fall back to the refugees location, however the overwhelming firepower of the rebels claims the lives of Slo, Flea, Link and Silk. The refugees provide a small amount of cover fire as the remaining SEALs fall back into the reeds, now everybody is sprinting for the border. Waters, shot in the leg, orders Arthur to take Kendricks with him to the border while he stays behind with the living members of his team. Zee has been shot in the lung and Doc is trying to keep him conscious when Waters hears the fighter pilots radioing in for the green light to engage. The SEALs pop smoke and order them to fire on everything between the tree line and the smoke. Red, still retreating to the others position who gets shot in the chest, barely makes it in time. Arthur and Dr. Kendricks are scrambling to the gate when they hear the thunderous roar of the jets on approach and are terrified to see them drop a substantial payload on the rebel fighters, fearing that Waters and the SEALs had been killed as well.
Waters, Zee, Doc and Red emerge from the grass as helicopters land on the other side of the Cameroon border as Captain Rhodes orders the guards to open the gate and let the SEALs and refugees in. A group of Marines then escort the SEALs to the helicopters where their wounds are tended to. Dr. Kendricks says her goodbyes to her friends and departs on the same helicopter with Waters.
The final scene depicts the refugees recognizing Arthur as the tribal king and rightful heir to Nigeria, and he raises his hand exclaiming “Freedom!” as his fellow Nigerians celebrate around him. In the closing title, we see the quote “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” by Edmund Burke.
[edit] Cast
Tears of the Sun features an ensemble cast, including several refugees portrayed by real African refugees now living in the United States.
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Bruce Willis | Lieutenant A.K. Waters |
| Monica Bellucci | Dr. Lena Kendricks |
| Cole Hauser | James "Red" Atkins |
| Eamonn Walker | Ellis "Zee" Pettigrew |
| Johnny Messner | Kelly "Link" Lake |
| Nick Chinlund | Michael "Slo" Slowenski |
| Charles Ingram | Demetrius "Silk" Owens |
| Paul Francis | Danny "Doc" Kelley |
| Chad Smith | Jason "Flea" Mabry |
| Tom Skerritt | Captain Bill Rhodes |
| Malick Bowens | Colonel Idris Sadick |
| Awaovieyi Agie | Musa |
| Akosua Busia | Patience |
| Ida Onyango | Lansana |
| Sammi Rotibi | Arthur Azuka |
| Jimmy Jean-Louis | Gideon |
[edit] Reception
The movie was met with mostly poor reviews. Review aggregation sites Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic recorded average ratings of 38% and 45% favorable reviews, respectively.[1][2] Time Out London was scathing, lambasting the fact that the film focused on a fictional atrocity in a real country, when there was ample opportunity to explore similar but historically accurate atrocities.
[edit] Production
All the actors who played Navy SEALs had to go through a two-week boot camp and during principal photography were required to refer to each other by their characters' names, even off camera, so as to improve interaction among the characters.
This is the first film to be filmed on the Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman. The U.S. Navy SH-60B Seahawk helicopters prominently seen in the film are from HSL-37 "Easy Riders" stationed at Kaneohe Marine Corps Base Oahu, Hawaii.
The U.S. Navy F/A-18A Hornets shown in the aircraft carrier sequence were from VFA-204, the "River Rattlers". VFA-204 is a Navy Reserve strike fighter squadron based at Naval Air Station New Orleans.
The shooting was touched by misfortune both in pre-production and during. First, actor Kevin Tod Smith, who had been cast as one of Willis' men, died in an accident while visiting the set of a film in China. On February 6, 2002, while waiting for a ride back to the hotel after completing his work on the set of Warriors of Virtue 2, Smith decided to walk around the Central China Television film studio grounds and climbed a prop tower on the set of another film. He lost his footing and fell approximately three stories, suffering severe head injuries. Smith was sent to a local hospital, then transferred to Beijing. He lapsed into a coma and was kept on life support for ten days until life support was discontinued. He died on February 15 without regaining consciousness.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Tears of the Sun at the Internet Movie Database
- Tears of the Sun at Allmovie
- Tears of the Sun at Rotten Tomatoes
- Tears of the Sun at Metacritic
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