Tears Of The Sun

Another lovefilm gem I've finally got around to viewing. I feel as though even if I don't enjoy a film like Tears of the Sun it's at least my moral responsibility to subject myself to viewing third-hand the atrocities there are in this world. Like why people make films and write books about the Holocaust. No, there isn't a bleaker subject. No, it's never 'enjoyable' to read/see stuff about it. Yes, it is necessary to remember and we should be telling people about just how bad events can be. The same goes for Africa and the horror of tribal violence and ethnic cleansing.

An American task force is sent to a Christian mission in Nigeria just as the President is assassinated in a military coup. The new dictator, from the Muslim north of Nigeria, embarks upon religious and ethnic cleansing to 'free' his people. Bruce Willis, when arriving to rescue an American doctor, is compelled to help some Christian Nigerians to the border with Cameroon and safety.

I'm a fan of Bruce Willis and he gives a solid performance as the trooper who doesn't really know how to disobey orders. Having reached extraction point, and got his 'package' away, leaving the refugees to fend for themselves, he experiences a change of heart and heads back to help them. One of his men quietly confronts him, challenging him to explain what they are doing, and what changed in Bruce's head to cause this turnaround. Willis replies: "I'll let you know when I figure it out".

Monica Bellucci overeggs things as the American doctor, and in fact, the film is weakened firstly by how much emphasis they make on whether or not she is American (she married an American, so is entitled to american protection), and secondly by her rather tearful and extravagant performance. For all her stoic nature and strength in the face of adversity in the jungle, she seemed a little too swift, in my view, to weep. The other way in which I struggled with the film was their presentation of the atrocities. Yes, it is important that we see the brutality of tribal violence that we might be chastened, that a lesson may be learned. But at the same time, I didn't feel this presentation tug at my heart strings as it might have done. Am I becoming inured of it? Or did something fall short in the presentation?

The final explosion fight scene and the loss of some of the American soldiers is touching, and filmed fantastically well. The fact that this film does not rely on fight scenes throughout to engage the attention is to its credit, and there are some nice details: the troops have all learnt something of the local patua, so that they can get by; their military precision is at all times obvious; the shift between languages is well managed. We are not faced with bumbling idiots or a more typical Hollywood plot that relies of character mistakes to propel plot. But at the same time, it seemed to me to be a fairly linear plot, and I was not particularly surprised by a final revelation that I suppose should surprise some: it was far too obviously foreshadowed in the opening scenes.

A well put together, cohesive piece, but for my taste, not gung-ho enough to be really an action movie, nor wrestling firmly enough with sensitive materials really to provoke deep consideration or to summon raw emotional impact.

***

Bruce Willis, Monica Bellucci, Cole Hauser, Eamonn Walker

Dir. Antoine Fuqua