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Tears of the Sun (2003)

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Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Of all the barbarities in all the world - not least in Africa - Hollywood had to wade into a fabricated civil war in Nigeria. At least this po-faced military-adventuring tub-thumper doesn't sneer the way Wag the Dog did at the idea of Albanian unrest. Then again, that might have relieved the suffocating banality of its African abstract, which encompasses local victims and villains and US flashfire fighters bound by the rulebook. 'God already left Africa' is, then, Willis's navy grunt's sum wisdom on the matter. Our hero and his platoon are charged with airlifting a Médecins Sans Frontières doctor (Bellucci) to safety. However, bundling the little lady into a 'copter and away turns out to be not so wham-bam. There's a moment pregnant with bathos as the chopper rises over the killing fields: Willis's cheeks clench, a taut grimace slowly spreads across his face, before he finally pronounces, 'Let's turn her around.' (Tit for tat: Bellucci's shirt slips a button.) From here on it's pretty much 'Die Hard in the Jungle', with carefully demarcated standards for representing American and 'Nigerian' violence. But, er, psychology? Culture? History? Willis: 'When I figure it out, I'll let you know.'

Author: NB

Time Out Film Guide

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User reviews of this film

Luke said...

Posted on Jan 05 2010 22:16 Why I thought an African war film starring Bruce Willis could be anything other than American fabrication and inaccurate rubbish is my profound mistake.. This is the worse film I have ever seen. It should be an embarrassment to everyone involved. If you want a decent Bruce Willis action film then watch Die Hard. If you want a compelling and well made African war film that doesn't insult those it is supposed to represent then watch Shooting Dogs. But never ever watch this film.
To answer the question of the above reviewer regarding the point of the film, according to the final quote it is that 'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.' Well if this is so, thank goodness there are the Americans and Bruce Willis' in this world to save us all!

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Nkoyo said...

Posted on Aug 06 2009 16:26 I was in Kaduna, (northern Nigeria) when I saw this and i am from the south. So technically I was in enemy territory as far as this movie is concerned. Do you know that some footage was taken from a documentary filmed by Sorious Samura entitled 'Cry Freetown, I am not sure any part was even filmed in Nigeria. I was wondering what on earth was actually going on in the movie. Athough the timeline was supposed to be in the year of its release, most Nigerians who saw it thought it was a re-enactment of the civil war (Nigeria vs Biafra).
My candid comment/question is this What was the point of it all? And i can't believe my beloved Bruce Willis would actually be in this sort of production.
I don't want to leave it unrated so the one star i give is actually a negative one.

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