In director Antoine Fuqua's (Training Day) new action-adventure film, Bruce Willis stars as Lt. A.K. Waters, the loyal veteran officer of a Navy S.E.A.L unit. When he's sent into the heart of Africa, the usually hard-bitten Waters finds himself deeply conflicted at having to choose between following orders and the dictates of his own conscience.
Though a fictionalization, Tears of the Sun deals with the gritty realism of human conflict as Lt. Waters travels to war-torn central Africa to rescue Dr. Lena Kendricks (Monica Bellucci), a U.S. citizen who runs a mission in the countryside. But when Lt. Waters arrives Dr. Kendricks refuses to abandon the refugees under her care. She implores Waters to escort them on a dangerous trek through the dense jungle to the nearby border. During the journey the S.E.A.L.s find themselves the unwitting guardians of a man sought by the rebel militia. This further endangers their already hazardous mission, but all the while strengthening Waters' resolve to protect Lena and the refugees, and to deliver them safely across the border.
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STEVEN SNYDER'S REVIEW

The very things that make “Tears of the Sun” a riveting thriller destroy its attempt to become a powerful drama. Yet, I admire it immensely for its determination to be unique and original.

It is a film both about conscience and survival, a film about real people in extreme situations. In its first moments, a news report establishes the place and time: Nigeria, on the brink of Civil War. The Presidential family has been assassinated, the military has staged a coup, and roaming bands of soldiers are massacring Christians throughout the country.

The United States has several important citizens in Nigeria, and A.K. Waters (Bruce Willis) is an American commander sent in to extract these people before the Nigerian military reaches their Christian missions. He is given a clear-cut objective: remove Dr. Lena Hendricks (Monica Bellucci), attempt to remove two additional nuns and a priest, and rendezvous with helicopters approximately ten miles away.

But upon arriving at Hendricks’ mission, the complexity of the situation becomes apparent. She is a doctor, caring for dozens of people, and she refuses to leave without them. To convince her to leave, Waters tells Hendricks that her people can come too, although he knows that waiting at the end of the hike is only one military helicopter with little room to spare.

It is here that the morals of military intervention become clear. What is America’s responsibility in a situation such as this? To do the right thing, and save these people who are otherwise doomed to death? Or, is it only to look out for America’s interests, and stay out of an international situation?

The debate is strikingly relevant, given the current political climate of the country. What are we to do about Iraq? Does Saddam Hussein do bad things? Yes. But is it our place to intervene?

None of this is to say that “Tears of the Sun” is a preachy film. Quite the contrary, its first half is a calm, quiet and reserved experience. Waters and his platoon have a mission to accomplish, and they go about it in a very professional manner. There is little character development and little talking, the emphasis instead being placed on the realism of the mission, Waters’ decision-making process and some heart-pounding close calls with enemy troops.

And I admired director Antoine Fuqua for his willingness to accept a hands-off approach. Another director would have hit the audience over the head with style, using backstories and emotional discussions to familiarize the viewer with the characters. But much like his previous film, “Training Day,” Fuqua proves skillful at allowing a story to evolve naturally and freely.

But after this entertaining hike is completed, and Waters makes his decision concerning too many people and too few helicopters, the story starts to divert from its appealing course. After a decision has been made, there is little remaining to keep up the film’s momentum, and some strange twists are injected in an attempt to spark some drama.

While these developments will work for some, I saw them as horrible decisions. What I loved about the first half of “Tears of the Sun” was that it seemed so raw, almost as if we had an inside view of a military operation. With these later, dramatic twists, however, this gritty reality starts to strip away. It seems like an exaggerated story, and suddenly the equation changes.

As a raw film, we expect to know little about the characters. But as an exaggerated fiction, we need something more to keep us engaged. This is the paradox that plagues the film’s ending.

By the time “Tears of the Sun” reaches its chaotic climax, it has lost almost all of the momentum it built in its first half. There is little excitement because the story has passed beyond the point of realism. And there is almost no connection with the characters because they have never been fully created.

This is why I opened the review with a contradictory statement. “Tears of the Sun” is a compelling thriller about soldiers out on their own, making life-altering decisions. And it is only a better thriller because Fuqua strands these characters out in the jungle without any artificial scenes of movie magic.

But as the film attempts to become a drama, and asks the audience to suddenly care more about these undeveloped characters, it asks too much. It is a big gamble, and one that, ultimately, doesn’t pay off.




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