Action/Adventure and Drama,
In 2001, American Christian aid workers, Heather Mercer
and Dayna Curry, held in an Afghanistan Taliban prison for
100 days, were rescued by U.S. Special Forces after the
fall of Kabul. From all the accounts, Mercer and Curry
were overjoyed. I thought about this highly publicized
rescue while watching TEARS OF THE SUN
unfold.
Doctors Without Borders Dr. Lena Kendricks (Monica
Bellucci, with full bosomed jungle décolleté - next time I
go to the jungle I want to take her stylist with me) is an
Italian doctor hell-bent on staying with her wounded
patients in war-torn Nigeria. The fierce rebels, who
machete off breasts and rape and murder with glee, do not
deter Dr. Lena's dedication one bit. Dr. Lena, along with
two nuns and a priest, do not want to be saved by a U.S.
multi-million dollar military rescue operation. They say
no to the highly skilled team stealthily brought in to
save their lives from vicious rebels coming their way.
Navy S.E.A.L. Lt. A. K. Waters (Bruce Willis, with all
the water dieted from his grave, stoic face) has to
hoodwink Dr. Lena to leave her hospital hut. He goes
against specific orders and agrees to a mass rescue of the
ambulatory, though the priest and nuns refuse to leave the
disabled, and stay behind. Dr. Lena demands Waters rescue
all the refugees so, in an act of silliness, twelve
villagers get in the helicopter while the good doctor, the
S.E.A.L. team, and the remaining villagers make their way
through the jungle to a safe haven in Cameroon. The rebels
follow.
My husband, referencing my unpopular, loud complaint
about
THE TWO TOWERS, whispered to me: "Another
long march."
The nobility of the refugees and the blessedness of the
S.E.A.L. team showed the unnecessary, heavy handedness of
the screenplay by Alex Lasker and Patrick Cirillo. Having
Bruce Willis as a star necessitates some embarrassing but
required elements I wish directors would film but edit out
of the final product: The frequent iconic shots of
Willis's stern face, Dr. Lena looking dreamily at Willis,
and the final wrap up of the refugees bowing down to
Willis and his men. How about the howler shot of a
bloodied Willis's head cradled to Dr. Lena's heaving
chest? And what about the member of Water's S.E.A.L. team
who tells him he identifies with the Nigerian refugees
instead of the country that gave him the opportunity to
become a skilled soldier?
John, my husband, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam
War jungle, gave TEARS OF THE SUN high
marks for technical accuracy. The Hawaiian production
gives the film an authentic, humid and wet feel. Director
Antoine Fuqua (TRAINING DAY) gives the
entire film a haunting look and a menacing soundtrack
frames the narrative in an effective way. However, an
overly sentimental, arch screenplay detracts from Fuqua's
previously exhibited strengths as a director
