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Tears of the Sun (2003) More at IMDbPro »

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363 comments in total

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112 out of 146 people found the following comment useful :-
Very worthwhile movie...give it a try., 30 March 2004
Author: innocuous from Raleigh, NC, USA

Hmmm...where do I start? Should I point out to a recent reviewer, who sarcastically pointed out that Nigeria has an air force and could have bombed the group fleeing through the jungle, that the "bad guys" are rebels, not government forces? Since the rebels just killed everyone in the President's family, they probably scared off the government pilots, too. (Sorry...couldn't resist.)

And since when was a movie so horribly, horribly bad because it couldn't be filmed in the actual location? So what if this was filmed somewhere other than Nigeria? And so what if the music was not "authentic Nigerian music"? I don't remember a title card at the beginning of the movies saying it's a National Geographic documentary.

This is a good movie. Less action than many war movies and less thought than some political dramas. There are good and bad people of all races. There's tension and there are explosions and gunfire. There is ample opportunity to reflect on what mankind is capable of doing to each other for political reasons.

Give it a chance and I think you'll enjoy it. Better yet, I think you'll be sombered by it.

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53 out of 71 people found the following comment useful :-
If you like gritty, realistic action movies then this will not disappoint., 5 June 2003

Author: Rob Taylor (Rob_Taylor) from London

Tears of the Sun. A pretty typical actioner which reminded me a little of Navy SEALs, though grittier and more believable. Willis is his usual mostly expressionless self here, yet somehow he manages to get the part of the troubled Lieutenant across very well indeed. The other actors all do their parts well and leave little that makes you frown in their portrayal of hardened special forces personnel. It was nice to see Cole Hauser in this movie. An underrated actor who is only now starting to get decent parts since his role in Pitch Black. Almost makes me want to go and see 2Fast 2Furious to see how he does in that. Almost...

But back to the movie. The plot won't stretch your mind much and the "strange" reason why the rebels pursue the refugees so ardently isn't very hard to guess long before the characters in the story discover it. But the action is plentiful, as is the brutality portrayed. If you like sanitized action movies then this film might upset you a little. It's not for those who think that war is about pushing buttons from hundreds of miles away or that all soldiers carry a copy of the Geneva Convention in their kit and consult it regularly.

But if you like gritty, realistic action movies then this will not disappoint.

And now....a small rant.

Oh dear God! I can't believe some of the truly stupid comments here. The concept that this movie's sole purpose was as a propaganda vehicle to make people feel better about the Iraq conflict is laughable to anyone who has a higher IQ than their shoe size. And as for Hollywood constantly portraying Americans as the great saviours....well why the hell not? Who in God's name wants to go and be depressed watching "the good guys" shoot innocents and ignore suffering. Yeah, that'd do real well at the box office! Movies are meant to entertain and make you feel good, not come out of the theatre wanting to slash your wrists. Jeez! Get a grip you people.

Thank you....end of rant.

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54 out of 73 people found the following comment useful :-
A very powerful and authentic film with a strong moral theme, 22 July 2005

Author: cooperaitaliano from France/Switzerland

This film was simply incredible. I didn't see it at the cinema, which upon seeing it later on DVD release, regretting missing first time round.

It made some incredibly powerful statements and was very difficult to watch. I rarely admit to this, but I actually found parts of it so moving, that I cried! And I never cry.

The choice of Bruce Willis was a good one and he plays a deeply conflicted character, he plays him with depth. I have seen Monica Belucci in films before. She is an incredibly gifted actress and she really believed in this project. Her character comes across as having strong religious and moral convictions, prepared to die to help and protect others. This comes across in the decisions she takes and the willingness to stand strong under pressure.

Having seen the Documentary on the special features section of the DVD afterwards, I could see the incredible lengths that everyone attached to the filming went to. Each of the actors playing Seal Team members, went through some very authentic training in preparation and stayed in character outside of filming during the day. Given the commitment of all those attached to the film, I can see why the film is what it is.

The director, Antoine Fuqua, from the films I have seen in which he directed, brings a strong moral theme to his characters and the story. The whole visual manner of filming, camera angles, close ups etc adds to the intensity here.

The choice of filter during filming, that gives a subdued and darker feeling visually, was perfect. The use of Africans as extras was an interesting and a suitable choice, given their backgrounds. Many of these extras were showing genuine emotions which was captured on camera, as they relived traumatic moments in their lives when certain scenes were filmed.

On that note, one scene in particular made for very difficult viewing, but totally in context and I would expect it would provoke a strong reaction from viewers, for good reason. The actual combat scenes are kept selectively short and in context to the overall film. They are also very realistic.

The soundtrack was well suited and complimented the whole overall feel to the film. I would not say that this film was entertaining, it is very hard to watch but it is an example of good film that will challenge everyone who watches it and who has a conscience.

After seeing this film, as with Hotel Rwanda and Tears of the Sun, I am constantly reminded of our individual and collective moral responsibilities in the 'civilised Western World' when atrocities are committed. And it sits badly with my conscience that 'we' in the West do so little and so late in trying to stop such genocide from happening. I for one think that every adult should see it.

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24 out of 27 people found the following comment useful :-
Outstanding middle part surrounded by Hollywood clichés, 21 May 2006

Author: rbverhoef (rbverhoef@hotmail.com) from The Hague, Netherlands

'Tears of the Sun' is a movie with a message and an interesting first hour, but contains too many Hollywood clichés to really be something. We start with Lieutenant Waters (Bruce Willis) and his team of SEALS who have to rescue Dr. Lena Kendricks (Monica Bellucci), a priest and two nuns from a missionary post in Nigeria where murdering rebels are about to arrive. The priest and the nuns want to stay, Kendricks only wants to come if the Nigerian refugees can come too. Waters agrees only to leave them behind as soon as Kendricks is on the helicopter. Then, from the helicopter, he witnesses the result of rebels passing by and in an instant he disobeys his orders and turns the helicopter around.

This is the point where the best part of the movie begins. Waters and his team are on their own now, leading the refugees to the border of Cameroon. The way his team not always agrees with his decisions but how they are loyal anyway is one of the interesting things here. Another is the way the movie dares to show the rebels and their actions, things we see parts of on the news in places like Liberia and Sudan. It gives us an impression how hopeless the situation is in some parts of Africa. The distraction here comes from Kendricks who is an obvious Hollywood plot device. She is the possible love interest, or at least the needed female character, and she must annoy Waters by constantly suggesting things that even to her must sound stupid when followed by a lot of rebels. Never mind.

Then the third act starts and the movie fails to deliver what it kind of promised before. Instead of following the dramatic path it changes into the kind of action film Hollywood likes to produce. A lot of gunfire, explosions and bodies flying through the air. That's too bad since an earlier action sequence was able to show both the horrific actions of the rebels and the trained and nuanced way of SEALS dealing with a situation. During that sequence I felt a director (Antoine Fuqua) doing his job the right way, making the movie very intense. He did the same thing for the excellent 'Training Day' from the year before. His third act of 'Tears of the Sun' was sort of like an introduction to his real Hollywood adventure, 'King Arthur'.

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18 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
When Tough Soldiers Become Human Beings, 28 August 2004

Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

In Nigeria, the rebel troops killed the elected president and his family, and are performing an `ethnical cleaning', killing the other tribes. The platoon leaded by Lt. A.K. Waters (Bruce Willis) is assigned in a mission in the jungle of Nigeria for rescuing the American Dr. Lena Fiore Kendricks (Monica Bellucci). Once in the location, Dr. Lena only agrees to leave the place if the team rescue also the other refugees lodged in the mission. In principle and with the intention of accomplishing his orders, Commander Waters agrees with the terms of Dr. Lena, but when the helicopters arrive, he leaves the Nigerians alone in the jungle. However, after seeing the massacre made by the rebel troops in the mission where he was, he returns and decides to lead the Nigerians to the safety of Cameroon. This film is a surprisingly good dramatic action movie. I do not believe that an experienced and tough soldier would jeopardize his mission, like Lt. Waters does in this story. However, Bruce Willis is perfect as a tough soldier, who gets evolved and shows compassion with the situation of the Nigerians. The citation from Edmund Burke in the end of the story is also very beautiful: 'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing'. Although having some flaws in the story, I found this movie a good entertainment, with a great message in the end. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): `Lágrimas do Sol' (`Tears of the Sun')

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21 out of 27 people found the following comment useful :-
Enjoyable drama set in an undeclared war..., 20 November 2004

Author: mentalcritic from Southern Hemisphere

The world we live in is a dangerous, unstable place, and nowhere is this more evident than in Africa, the place where many things of our world, AIDS included, are said to originate. Indeed, about the only thing that cannot be found in Africa is oil, which makes American interest in the region difficult to imagine, leave alone explain. So when we are presented with a story about a war in Africa, it only stands to reason that we must ask exactly why we see American soldiers.

Bruce Willis gives a delightfully underacted performance as the leader of an infantry unit sent to retrieve a handful of American citizens. Things get complicated when the primary objective refuses to leave without dozens of her patients. Instead of simply escorting one woman to safe territory, the party winds up in a race to the Cameroon border with one substantial territorial force in pursuit. Exactly why this force pursues them, we don't know until the climactic battles are about to take place, but it works.

Indeed, the actors here are not even noticeable, excepting maybe Tom Skerritt, who looks as if he spent his salary on diet pills. Instead, the sumptuous locations and cinematography, along with the action, are the stars of this film. This is a good old-fashioned action film, in spite of its very relevant story. What makes it stand out is that instead of modern action where nobody can see enough of what is going on for it to matter or make sense, we get our action scenes the old fashioned way. Blood spurts, detailed shots of the guns going off, or weapons striking flesh, are a reality rather than a much lamented unfulfilled requisite.

There are some problems, but they are minor in the grand scheme of things. When one shows fighter planes dropping air-to-surface weapons, it is usually an idea to get those weapons right. Using air-to-air missiles to drop napalm, for example, is not on. At least the dire action films of the 1980s used weapons in a manner that was convincing. The believability of a commanding officer allowing such violations of orders is very difficult to imagine, to say the least. Then again, given that these minor lapses happen once or twice during a two-hour film, this can be overlooked.

I gave Tears Of The Sun a seven out of ten. It's not at the level of a Verhoeven action film, or even a Cameron action film. It is, on the other hand, a good piece of entertainment with a decent and human edge, with sequences that have been competently shot. Which puts it ahead of a lot of films on today's market already.

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32 out of 51 people found the following comment useful :-
'War Movie' With A Noble Message, 22 August 2006

Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States

The is a solid "war" movie with U.S. Navy Seals, led by Bruce Willis, rescuing an American doctor and 70 of her patients from war-torn Nigeria. This is violent and bloody n parts but definitely not another "Blackhawk Down" with overdone violence (although I liked Blackhawk Down).

This is beautifully-filmed, artistic in spots. I imagine this would look super on HD with a big plasma TV. The sound is excellent, too.

Critics didn't like this movie. I suspect one big reason is that they are used to seeing films in which Christians are shown as sympathetic victims of persecution. Critics also don't like to see the right thing being exalted.

Willis is perfect for this role as the strong, stone-faced leader. Monica Bellucci could have been a little more likable as the doctor. The story gets a little too melodramatic at the end, but it's tolerable.

This is not a family film by any means, because of the violence, perhaps 20 f- words and a dozen abuses of the Lord's name in vain. Still, an interesting movie with a different slant, and at least has a noble message.

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15 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
Doing the right thing without a Stars and Stripes to be seen, 23 August 2005

Author: pdt1978 from UK

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

While it's far from classical film making I was quite surprised by how good I found this movie. My partner and I have both spent some time working in Africa and she has a special interest in human rights and humanitarian intervention. When we saw the preview for this movie we both let out audible groans and eyes were rolled aplenty: America saves everyone...again. The movie was immediately consigned to the "I wouldn't watch that if you paid me bin..." but we did watch it and we quite enjoyed it.

Aside from the slightly too sexual relationship between Willis and the doctor (they almost kiss - simply no need) the movie runs along pretty well and was by turns very tense, exciting and fairly moving.

Most importantly I felt it provided a thought provoking picture of what ethnic cleansing might really be like, something that film makers hesitate to explore. War time atrocities are one of those things that we all have a fair idea about but that are rarely portrayed. This movie did a VERY good job of describing awful atrocities without being overly gory or, worse, sensationalist and the use of humiliation and subordination as a weapon was subtly demonstrated.

Technical aspects aside the soldiers were convincingly concerned about the refugees without overt "We're all such goddamn heroes, aren't we?" posturing. All the major clichés were utterly avoided, not a single stars and stripes to be seen, not even the remotest hint of patriotic zeal, no mournful brass sections but plenty of Hans "I really need some new material after Gladiator" Zimmer's African melodies. The violence was visceral without being excessively bloody or stylised, and there was a sentimentality that deftly avoided being cheesy.

Most importantly Bruce Willis managed to avoid being Bruce Willis for 80% of the time.

The nearest thing I would compare this movie to is Black Hawk Down. However, BHD is wedged firmly in the action genre and this really isn't. Yup, there is shooting and violence in it but it manages to not be about that, which I think is a great thing.

My advice: grab the DVD version, watch the movie, then watch the trailer/previews included on the disk - you'll wonder if you were watching the same film, the trailer just does not do it justice.

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13 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
An excellent action/thriller with something to say., 7 March 2003
Author: Li-1

7.5 out of 10

Tears of the Sun is hardly perfect. Director Antoine Fuqua's direction can get a bit heavy-handed and most of the characters are one to two-dimensional in development (understandable, given the large cast). But it's a solidly made, often thrilling and sometimes thought-provoking film that aims for serious issues, particularly as a sober outlook of modern warfare and morals. It's not entirely successful at the latter, but to even attempt to stray from typical Hollywood is admirable, and Tears of the Sun is often more hit than miss.

Bruce Willis stars as A.K. Waters, the head of a mission to retrieve a Dr. Lena Hendricks (Monica Bellucci) from the Nigerian jungle, after Muslim rebels have just assassinated the presidential family, and are on a rampage throughout the country. Hendricks is located easily, but she will only leave so long as all able-bodied individuals on her mission can come along. Waters reluctantly agrees, but soon finds that he and his group must trek the jungles with no assistance and with 300 Nigerian soldiers hot on their trail.

Tears of the Sun works as a thoughtful film, but is more successful as a tension-builder. Director Fuqua shows an able hand at building suspense to a feverish pitch, all the way to the concluding battle sequence, a fifteen minute setpiece that rivals any recent war film in both intensity and technical superiority. The other major action setpiece is a tense shootout in a village, the aftermath of which is disturbing in its revelation of the rebels' treatment of civilians. Tears of the Sun is a violent film, but never exploitative in its approach.

The film's two best developed characters belong to Bruce Willis and Monica Bellucci. Willis has always been a fine actor, this understated approach has worked for him before and fits like a glove here. I'm not quite as familiar with Bellucci, who I've only seen in Brotherhood of the Wolf and as one of the brides in Bram Stoker's Dracula, but she's quite good here, easily the film's anchor when it comes to heart and warmth. I'm certainly not exaggerating when I say she's one of the most beautiful (and bodacious) women to ever grace the screen (and I look forward to her in the upcoming Matrix sequels).

There are flaws, such as the rather obtrusive musical score and some pretentious use of slow motion on Fuqua's behalf. The film's biggest narrative stumble comes with a plot twist 3/4's through the movie, when an extraneous plot twist is revealed. Admittedly, without the twist, the film wouldn't have been able to build up as much suspense, much less deliver that final battle. But when all is said and done, Tears of the Sun is highly recommended, a Hollywood film that has more on its mind than explosion and gunfights (which the movie still has an ample amount of).

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9 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
comment about realism, 1 April 2006
Author: GJFisher2000 from United States

As a person who can speak from a reputable stand point, I have to say this movie is different than many other "war" movies and is generally regarded highly among many different types of members in the U.S. military. This films representation brought forth a perspective that showed a few sides to a mission. Yes there is the desire to finish and get out. But the film also showed that the situation can change on the ground as it always does, and sometimes you have to modify. An seasoned veteran like Lt. Waters who is somewhat seasoned being a Lt. probably would have the foresight to say it is safe to go ahead and try and get these people to a border being that was the only way to drag the doc outta there without hog tying her, even though the orders above were different. A team leader is expected to use some discretion and Lt. did that. Although it was borderline crazy operationally it still worked. Working in that environment is not just like a round of socom. Things happen and you have to do the best you can for the situation if it is feasible and you have the balls to do it. Also, the depiction of the action scenes were practically dead on and impressive. Mr. Fuqua didn't cheese it up, it was kept fairly raw and confusing as is a real engagement. The ethnic cleansing scenes, well it doesn't get any more realistic than that. I can understand why everyone else hates America for doing these films about ourselves but honestly can you see a french film showing specwar going into save a village, nope. They would hand out white flags to everyone. Maybe the Aussies, Israelis, or Brits, but pretty much beyond those three countries thats all ya got. If at the least, this is a reminder that even when you think you know about what our guys are doing in the world, you don't know the half,we lose guys everyday and people should realize that a silent war exists.

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