Product Description

Loyal veteran Navy S.E.A.L. Lt. A.K. Waters (Bruce Willis) is sent into the heart of war-torn Africa on a hazardous mission to rescue Dr. Lena Hendricks (Monica Bellucci) a U.S. citizen who runs a missionary. When the beautiful doctor refuses to abandon the refugees in her care Lt. Waters finds himself having to choose between following orders and the dictates of his own conscience. Together they begin a dangerous trek through the deadly jungle all the while being pursued by a rebel militia group with only one goal in mind: to assassinate Lt. Waters unit and the refugees in his care.System Requirements:Starring: Bruce Willis Monica Bellucci Cole Hauser Fionnula Flanagan Eamonn Walker Johnny Messner and Nick Chinlund. Directed By: Antoine Fuqua. Running Time: 121 Min. Color. Copyright 2003 VPD Inc.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R UPC: 043396097513 Manufacturer No: 09751

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5919 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2003-06-10
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 121 minutes

Amazon.com
While it offers nothing new to the military action genre, Tears of the Sun distinguishes itself with fine acting, expert craftsmanship, and seriousness of purpose. Its familiar "extraction mission" plot is essentially similar to that of Black Hawk Down, involving a crack team of U.S. Special Ops commandos struggling to rescue innocent missionaries amidst the bloody horror of Nigerian ethnic cleansing. With Bruce Willis as their grizzled, no-nonsense commander, the skillful team enters a hot zone that gets even hotter when their "package"--an American national (Monica Bellucci) who runs the isolated mission--demands that 70 Nigerian villagers be included in the rescue. Willis's uneasy conscience leads him to defy orders and expand his mission, and in an ambitious follow up to Training Day, director Antoine Fuqua escalates tension and strike-force with considerable emotional impact. Originally considered as a potential entry in Willis's Die Hard series, and released on the eve of America's war with Iraq, Tears of the Sun admirably avoids jingoism with its rousing story of personal good vs. political evil. --Jeff Shannon

DVD features
Because of the intense political nature of Tears of the Sun, it's no surprise that a good deal of the DVD content is devoted to the political and historical background of Africa. Director Antoine Fuqua discusses it in his feature-length commentary track, along with other comments about the film itself. Another commentary track, in which the authors recall the making of the film and the material that was cut, lasts 17 minutes and is not related to the portion of the film it accompanies. A pop-up "fact track" offers further background and production info, as does a 15-minute making-of featurette. Eight of the African actors discuss their harrowing personal experiences in "Voices of Africa," and eight deleted scenes wouldn't have added much to the film, other than introducing two small but important characters earlier. The sound mix is particularly involving during the climactic scene. --David Horiuchi

From The New Yorker
A rousing celebration of American military expertise, but one pricked by conscience. The stoical Lieutenant A. K. Waters (Bruce Willis) leads a crack unit of Navy SEALs into a civil conflict in Nigeria between Muslims and Christians. Their mission is to rescue an Italian-born American citizen (Monica Bellucci), a doctor operating a Catholic missionary hospital. Appalled by the atrocities committed against defenseless people, the unit winds up staying on the ground to protect the patients. Bellucci, a flaming dark beauty with snapping eyes and a sumptuous décolletage, runs through the bush with her shirt partly open. Because of such absurdities, and the general atmosphere of American noblesse oblige, skeptics have dismissed the movie as an embarrassing crock-another contrived occasion for U.S. soldiers to demonstrate their nobility while fighting and killing a great many nasty-looking Africans. Baldly stated, this is true, but the movie, directed by Antoine Fuqua, has been made with ravishing skill. The cinematographer, Mauro Fiore, who also worked with the director on "Training Day," does wonders matching the natural light from shot to shot. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

John McCain: Navy SEAL?
Tears of the Sun is more than what the trailers make it out to be. It's not your normal action movie, meaning the plot isn't just an excuse to have lots of things blow up. The story focuses more on the internal struggles of Willis's character than anything else. If you watched the trailer and were hoping for Die Hard 4: The African Edition, you will be sorely disappointed.

The plot revolves around a mission by US Navy SEALs to go into a hostile area of Nigeria and rescue an American doctor. The doctor (Monica Bellucci) is living at Mission, taking care of sick and dying Nigerians. Getting the doctor out is only a minor hassle, the real trouble begins when Willis' characters internal struggles of following orders vs. doing what is right get the best of him and he decides to try and save all the Nigerian patients. From there all hell breaks loose and there are a few surprises before the end.

As I said before, this is not your normal action movie. It doesn't go gonzo on the special effects and explosions, but obviously this is a war movie and there is plenty of violence near the end. The thing is, by the time people do start dying, you will care. On a side note, there are several parts of the movie that are unrealistic (the main one being a Navy SEAL going against explicit orders from his commanding officer), but these can be easily forgiven and overlooked.

The combat depicted is on par with the best recent war movies, such as Black Hawk Down and We Were Soldiers. It's very realistic. The "grand finale" battle at the end is a pretty intense 30 minutes, and is best experienced at a theater with good sound. Overall, this is a very satisfying movie that is worth the exorbitant ticket prices these days.

Tears [of the Sun]
Tears of the Sun brings Bruce Willis back to the rebel-with-a-cause-and-a-big-gun role. This isn't a date movie. Lots of guerrilla combat, lots of blood and a subplot that is revealed only well into the movie -- and I won't spoil it for you. If the basic plot is nothing new, the film comes together very well, and it outclasses a lot of other action flicks.

Willis (as Lt. Waters) leads his men into Nigeria to rescue an American doctor. In a fit of conscience, after having achieved his mission, Waters orders his choppers to return so that he can rescue the band of doomed refugees. We feel good about that. Especially after seeing what the Nigerian rebels did to the hospital after Waters and company evacuated. If you accept that a special forces lieutenant would disobey orders and follow his conscience, the rest of the story unfolds well.

Visually, Tears of the Sun is a stunner. You will feel as though you spent a couple of hours in the rain forest. Some of the gorier scenes look like the sort of thing that might be omitted from news coverage of such events, but it was enough for me. The pace is intense -- not much time spent chatting around the campfire. I can't vouch for the accuracy of the military operations, but Willis is very credible in this role, and realism tends to win out over dramatic licence. At least until the final sequences.

If you like action films with at least a layer of human interest, you will probably enjoy Tears of the Sun. It falls short only in the ways most desperation mission movies do -- some narrow escapes that require us to be grateful for our heroes without overanalyzing. ... But the overall writing is quite good. ...

Tears of the Sun may not be the film of the year, but it holds together well and kept the audience absorbed. It shows American soldiers as capable, confident and caring. That's a good image, and one that sends you home thinking that our men and women in uniform can do a lot of good.

Tears of the Sun is well worth seeing
Tears of the Sun is a first class war movie in the realistic style of Black Hawk Down. The plot centers on a mission by US Navy SEALs to rescue an American doctor at a mission in Nigeria during a civil war.
Bruce Willis stars as the officer commanding the SEAL detachment. He and the other actors potraying SEALs received training from real SEALs and, therefore, come across as authentic instead of the usual Hollywood portayal of speical operators as undiscplined psychopaths.
The level of violence in this movie is high as expected in a war movie, but it is never exaggerated or cartoonish. Neither is it included just to keep the excitement level up. Instead, violence is portrayed as the inevitable product of war and is shown realistically as real human suffering.
The movie is very tightly edited and moves quickly. There are no long periods of chatter and no padding. The movie gets right into the story it intends to tell and moves along quickly. I was surprised when the movie ended that 2 hours had actually passed.
The battle scenes are clearly the product of some considerable effort at realism. The good guys are not invincible and the bad guys are not incompetent. Weapons effects are realistic, not exaggerated. Wounds are authentically gory, but not overdone for effect's sake.
In conclusion. Tears of the Sun attempts to paint a believeable picture of believable human beings in a frightening and brutal situation. It is one of the finest war movies I have seen and I recommend it highly to anyone who likes the genre.