A caption at the beginning of Tears of the Sun reads, “Somewhere off the coast of Africa.” This movie is somewhere off the coast of film perfection, and it’s pretty far out there.
Tears, Bruce Willis’ latest action vehicle, places A.K. Waters (Willis) as the leader of a team of Navy SEALS sent to the jungles of Nigeria. Vicious rebels are inflicting mass genocide on the country’s ruling tribe. Waters’ mission is to rescue an American doctor, a priest and two nuns who are aiding 70 injured tribal refugees. While the priest and nuns refuse to leave, Dr. Lena Kendricks (Monica Bellucci) says she’ll go only if she can bring the refugees with her, a decision that severely hinders the mission. Waters defies his commander’s orders and guides dozens of people to the Cameroon border and away from the ruthless rebel soldiers.
The story is easy to follow and appreciate because the film stays with the group in the jungle and doesn’t involve technical subplots or confusing background information. Tears mixes the reality of Africa’s civil wars into its fictional story, giving it a timely and realistic feel. However, one of the most common problems of war films is that they try to be too realistic.
The camera often whips erratically around characters involved in combat, leaving the audience confused as to who is fighting whom. Director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) takes it one step further by filming such scenes in near darkness, so not only can the audience barely see the characters’ faces in the dark, but they have to decipher their identities through quick edits and camera turns.
The film’s message loses some credibility thanks to its standard Hollywood requirements. For instance, Dr. Kendricks is drop-dead gorgeous (as all doctors working on tribal refugees in the jungles of Africa would be), and even though the group spends several days traveling through a sweltering jungle, often under rainfall, her eyes are always perfectly made up, and her skin beautifully dewy, rather than dirty and sweaty. Her cleavage is always conveniently bared and bouncing whenever she has the energy to run.
The SEALS are simple, garden-variety military men. Willis brings nothing more to his role except for his signature squint, and Bellucci stands around giving Willis dirty looks, up until their obligatory romantic scene halfway through the film.
Meanwhile, the African refugees are quietly sincere and passionate. Their love for each other is moving and their fear of the rebel forces is genuine. There is an uncomfortable scene in which rebels attack the refugees and SEALS. When the battle is over, one SEAL has been shot and several refugees are dead. The dying soldier gives a long-winded speech about brotherhood and going on with the mission while his comrades weep and pat him on the back. After the man dies, Waters walks over to a refugee who’s crying over his friend’s body and yells, “This man is dead! Let’s go!” It’s difficult to watch because the viewer cares more for the refugees than for any of the SEALS.
Tears, which was possibly devised as a two-hour long Navy commercial, won’t inspire its audience to welcome World War III; rather, it will make viewers feel sorry for the multitude of innocent people in other countries who will be killed in the process. Waters made the mistake of getting personally involved in another country’s war – with tragic results. At the end of the film, a quote by Edmund Burke appears on the screen: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Let’s see how long it takes before President Bush adopts this motto in his defense.
