Tears of the Sun

Tears of the Sun
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Antoine Fuqua
Written by	Alex Lasker Patrick Cirillo
Produced by	Ian Bryce Mike Lobell Arnold Rifkin
Starring	Bruce Willis Monica Bellucci Cole Hauser Tom Skerritt
Cinematography	Mauro Fiore
Edited by	Conrad Buff
Music by	Hans Zimmer
Production companies	Columbia Pictures Revolution Studios Cheyenne Enterprises
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Releasing
Release date	March 7, 2003(2003-03-07)
Running time	121 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$100.5 million
Box office	$86.5 million

Tears of the Sunis a 2003 Americanaction thrillerfilmdirected byAntoine Fuqua.It depicts a fictitiousU.S. Navy SEALteam rescue mission amidst the 21st-century version of thecivil war in Nigeria.Lieutenant A.K. Waters (Bruce Willis) commands the team sent to rescueU.S. citizenDr. Lena Fiore Kendricks (Monica Bellucci) before the approaching rebels reach her jungle hospital.

Willis producedTears of the SunthroughCheyenne Enterprises,his production company.

Plot

Acoup d'étatled by exiled General Mustafa Yakubu overthrows thePresident of NigeriaSamuel Azuka, sendingNigeriainto chaos and causing anethnic conflictbetween theFulaniMuslimsand theChristianIgbo.Samuel and his family are assassinated, and foreigners are evacuated from the country. Aboard theHarry S. Truman,aNavy Sealteam, led by A.K. Waters, is tasked by Captain Bill Rhodes to extract Dr. Lena Fiore Kendricks, a U.S. citizen by marriage to the late Dr. John Kendricks who was killed by rebels inSierra Leoneand the mission's priest and two nuns, should they choose to come.

The team reaches Kendricks, who refuses to leave without her patients. Waters calls Rhodes for options; after a conversation, he concedes to Kendricks' wishes and agrees to take those refugees who can walk. Kendricks begins assembling the able-bodied; the priest and the nuns stay behind to care for the injured.

Irritated and behind schedule, the team and the refugees leave the hospital mission after daybreak. At nightfall, they take a break when rebels approach their position, and Waters stealthily kills one to prevent them from being discovered. Kendricks warns Waters that the rebels are going to the mission, but he is determined to carry out his orders, and they continue to the extraction point. At the mission, the staff and refugees are detained by the rebels. Despite the priest's pleas for mercy, the rebels murder him and the remaining occupants.

When the team arrives at the extraction point, Waters' initial plan becomes clear: the SEALs turn away the refugees from the waiting helicopter. Waters forces Kendricks into the helicopter against her will, leaving the refugees stranded in the jungle, defenseless against the rebels. En route back to Harry Truman, they fly over the original mission compound, seeing it destroyed and all its occupants murdered.

Remorseful, Waters orders the pilot to return to the refugees. He loads as many refugees as he can into the helicopter and decides to escort the remaining ones to theCameroonborder. En route, the SEALs discover the rebels are tracking them. The team enters a village whose inhabitants are being massacred by the rebels. Waters and his team kill the rebels, but are shaken by the atrocities which have been committed against the villagers.

Realizing the rebels are approaching their position, the SEALs conclude that a refugee is transmitting their location. One of the recently arrived refugees, Gideon, is theinformantand tries to run but is shot by Silk. He was bugged with a transmitter. Suspicious, the SEAL's search for his co-conspirators reveals the presence of Arthur Azuka, who is the surviving son of Samuel Azuka. That is why the rebels are hunting them: Samuel was not only the president of the country but also the tribal king of the Ibo. As the only surviving member of this royal bloodline, Arthur is the only person with a legitimate claim to the Ibo nation.

The SEALs decide to continue escorting the refugees to Cameroon. A firefight ensues when the rebels catch up with them, and the SEALs decide to stay behind as rearguard to buy the refugees enough time to reach the border. Slo, Lake, Flea, and Silk die in the firefight, and Zee calls in for air support. Waters, Red, Doc, and Zee are wounded but direct the jets on where to attack the rebels. Air support wipes out the rebels as Rhodes arrives at the border with reinforcements. He orders the gate open, letting in the SEALs and the refugees.

Rhodes promises Waters that he will recover the bodies of Waters' men. Kendricks bids farewells to her Nigerian friends and flies away in a helicopter while comforting Waters, watching as Arthur is surrounded by his people proclaiming their freedom.

Cast

• Bruce Willisas Lieutenant A.K. Waters, US Navy - Team Leader Commander
• Monica Belluccias Dr. Lena Fiore Kendricks - Doctor at the International Humanitarian Aid
• Tom Skerrittas Captain Bill Rhodes, US Navy - Commanding Officer
• Cole Hauseras James "Red" Atkins, US Navy - Heavy Gunner and Explosives Specialist
• Paul Francis as Danny "Doc" Kelley, US Navy - Corpsman
• Eamonn Walkeras Ellis "Zee" Pettigrew, US Navy - Radioman and Grenadier
• Johnny Messneras Johnny Kelly "JKL" Lake, US Navy - Recon and Pointman
• Nick Chinlundas Michael "Slo" Slowenski, US Navy - SAW Gunner and Reconnaissance GPS Enemy Tech
• Charles Ingram as Demetrius "Silk" Owens, US Navy - Sniper
• Chad Smith as Jason "Flea" Mabry, US Navy - Marksman
• Cornelia Hayes O'Herlihy as Sister Siobhan O'Connor
• Fionnula Flanaganas Sister Grace McIntyre
• Pierrino Mascarinoas Father Giovanni Fianni
• Peter Mensahas Commander Terwase
• Malick Bowens as Colonel Idris Sadick
• Akosua Busiaas Patience
• Sammi Rotibias Arthur Azuka, son of Nigeria President Samuel Azuka
• Benjamin Ochiengas Colonel Emanuel Okeze, bodyguard of Arthur Azuka

The cast included African refugees living in the United States, some of whom were from the group known as the 'Lost Boys of Sudan'.

Production

Harry Humphries,a former U.S. Navy SEAL, was the technical adviser to the film, having advised the earlierBlack Hawk Down.According to the Blu-rayfactoid,the aircraft carrier scenes were filmed aboard the activeUSSHarry S. Truman,60 miles (97 km) east ofCape Hatterasin theAtlantic Ocean.The Navy repeatedly turned the carrier so that director Fuqua would have beneficial lighting conditions.The story is based on a mission of the Canadian Joint Task Force Two (JTF2) that took place in Colombia. An ex-member of the commando wrote the original story and suggested it when he met the production team ofExecutive Decision(1996) on a set in Nevada.

Fuqua has stated that he and Bruce Willis did not get along with each other during the making of this film.

Release

The movie was shown in U.S. theaters on March 13, 2003,having premiered earlier on March 3.The 20-minutes longer "Director's Extended Cut" was released onDVDin 2005 and begins with the killing of the Nigerian president, adding political context.TheBlu-raytheatrical cut was released in September 2006,containing low-definition deleted scenes instead of that extended cut.

Reception

Critical response

Onreview aggregatorwebsiteRotten Tomatoes,the film holds an approval rating of 33% based on 155 reviews and an average rating of 4.93/10. The website's critical consensus states that the film "tries to be high-minded, but in the end, it's just a stylish action movie."OnMetacritic,the film has a weighted average score of 48 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Audiences polled byCinemaScoregave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebertgave the film three stars out of four and said, "Tears of the Sunis a film constructed out of rain, cinematography and the face of Bruce Willis. These materials are sufficient to build a film almost as good as if there had been a better screenplay. "

In retrospect, Director Antoine Fuqua said:

"It made money. The reason I did it was because there was an opportunity to say something real. And I think there was a fear on a lot of different people's parts, once I started bring people from Africa over here, people with one legs, people who really experienced these things over there. It got very real, and all of the sudden people started saying," Wow, we want to make sure this makes money, we want to market this, it needs to be more of an action movie. "There's too much money involved for this to be just an important story about these people's plight. And it became that during the shooting, which is really difficult because you go into a movie trying to say something, and then in the middle of it, people shift gears on you because of the business or people not believing it can be successful without more action or more heroic things." - said Fuqua. "It got twisted, and it became very frustrating for me because I found myself doing more of an action movie, which is not what I wanted to do. It was a fight, a battle on everybody's part".

He concluded by: "I got pissed, Bruce (Willis) got pissed. I actually like Bruce, it just got to a point where working together was difficult, because we say two different movies. So, what do you do? He's the bigger star. It's hard to fight that. People pay to see him."

See also

• List of films featuring the United States Navy SEALs

External links

• Official website
• Tears of the SunatIMDb
• Tears of the SunatAllMovie
• Tears of the SunatMetacritic
• Tears of the SunatBox Office Mojo
• Tears of the SunatRotten Tomatoes
• Tears of the Sunat theTCM Movie Database
• Tears of the Sunat theAFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Tears of the Sunat theInternet Movie Firearms Database