Tears of the Sun on DVD

Bruce Willis is in “man of action” mode in this tale of Navy S.E.A.L.s sent into Nigeria on a rescue mission.

Lt Waters’ (Willis) mission is to bring out an American doctor trapped in a civil war-wracked country that sounds similar to how things must have been during the Rwandan massacres a few years back.

But the doctor (Monica Bellucci) won’t go without “her people,” and there isn’t room for “her people” aboard the limited number of chopper spaces. What to do?

You do it the hard way, of course. Waters decides to take his ragtag charges to safety over land, through the jungle and under the noses and rifle sights of the enemy forces.

So when the choppers show up to fly out the doctor and the S.E.A.L.s, Waters orders them back to base, against the better judgement of just about everyone in the film except for the doctor and “her people.” Still, while he’s disobeying orders and putting his, his men’s, and his charges' lives in extreme danger, it’s the morally right thing to do and isn’t that all that matters?

Well, no, but those who stood by and watched Rwanda may appreciate Waters’ change of heart after he sees what the rebels do to the doctor’s hospital after Waters and company evacuated – having left others behind who refused to leave.

So while it’s more than a tad unbelievable that someone in Waters’ position would disobey orders and, instead, follow his conscience, you feel glad he did. And, after all, if he didn’t we’d have a very short movie!

Visually, Tears of the Sun is excellent. It almost makes you feel as if you’ve been in the rain forest, except that it doesn’t short out your home theater equipment. There’s quite a bit of gore, and this may not please some of the more gentle souls, but we didn’t think it was gratuitous. Rather, there’s a point behind showing this particular brand of man’s inhumanity to man and perhaps if we’d been privy to footage of the horrors the Iraqi people endured under Saddam Hussein, even “Hollywoodized” as in this flick, some of those people who defended the dictator’s regime may have had their minds changed.

Nah. They generally only support war when a Democratic regime is in charge.

Anyway, Tears of the Suns barrels along almost breathlessly and the film has a very realistic feel. There’s plenty of action, but there’s also enough meat for the brain to keep you interested. And it follows the recent trend in Hollywood toward not making the U.S. military out to be a bunch of bloodthirsty baby killers, and this is most welcome.

Willis, as usual, is very good and his supporting cast, including Monica Bellucci as the doctor, Cole Hunter and Tom Skerritt, is also first rate.

The DVD is very good as well. It’s presented in anamorphic widescreen, 16x9 TV compatible, and features a razor sharp image and glorious color. Audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and, as one might expect with a modern war movie, it gives the home theater speakers a nice workout, with good surround and plenty of “point one” effects.

You get a decent set of extras, too. First up is a running commentary by director Antoine Fuqua; there’s also a “Making of” featurette and some deleted scenes.

But that isn’t it. There are also some “Writer’s observations”, a “Voices of Africa” feature, and an interactive map of Africa. You also get an “Africa fact track” and the theatrical trailer.

Tears of the Sun, from Columbia Tristar Home Video
121 min. anamorphic widescreen (2.40:1, 16x9 TV compatible), Dolby Digital 5.1 surround
Starring Bruce Willis, Monica Bellucci, Cole Hunter, Tom Skerritt
Produced by Michael Lobell, Arnold Rifkin, Ian Bryce
Written by Alex Lasker & Patick Cirillo (check spelling), directed by Antoine Fuqua.

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