Barnes & Noble

Bruce Willis and the ravishing Monica Bellucci star in this suspenseful war movie, a genre offering that studiously avoids the clichés of jingoistic shoot-’em-ups in favor of a more intellectually and emotionally satisfying approach. Tears of the Sun reflects with surprising accuracy the horrors being perpetrated daily in African nations convulsed by civil war fomented by antagonistic ethnic groups. Willis portrays Navy SEAL lieutenant A. K. Waters, who leads a special-operations team into the Nigerian jungle to find Italian-born doctor Lena Hendricks (Bellucci), an American citizen by marriage, before she can be captured (or worse) by marauding rebels heading for her makeshift hospital. Lena refuses to leave unless the American soldiers agree to lead her African patients to safety -- a nearly impossible undertaking that would undermine Waters's clearly defined mission. Director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) renders the atrocities of African warfare in excruciating detail, but his depictions are neither gratuitous nor exploitative; they underline the severity of current conditions and amplify the moral dilemma faced by the American commander: Can he stick to his narrowly defined mission and allows scores of wounded refugees to be slaughtered? Willis, who invested many of his former heroes with macho insouciance, brings a welcome maturity and gravitas to his characterization of Waters. Bellucci, of whom the script demands considerably less, makes an attractive and engaging foil -- albeit one whose true motives are shrouded in secrecy. The battle scenes are excellently done and not overtly sensationalistic, and the relentless pursuit of the SEALs and refugees by the brutal rebels adds nail-biting suspense. Very much in the current tradition of war movies that refuse to glorify war, Tears of the Sun provides two hours of provocative and eminently satisfying entertainment. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

A career soldier is forced to choose between following orders and saving lives in this action thriller. Lt. A.K. Waters (Bruce Willis) is a veteran Navy SEAL whose commander (Tom Skerritt) has given his team a special assignment. A Central African nation is expected to explode into war at any moment, and Waters and his cohorts are to escort any American citizens in the area to safety, most notably Dr. Lena Kendricks (Monica Bellucci), a doctor from the United States who has set up a clinic in the jungle. Waters and his men find Kendricks, but she refuses to leave with them unless she can bring along 70 refugees who have been left to her care. Kendricks makes it clear that if they are left behind, the refugees will face certain death, but Waters's C.O. insists he bring back Kendricks -- but not her patients. Forced by his conscience to disobey orders, Waters and his team race against time to escort the refugees to a border town where they will find safe haven before invading troops can ambush them. Tears of the Sun (which was produced under the title Man of War) also features Cole Hauser and Fionnula Flanagan. Mark Deming

Entertainment Weekly

Antoine Fuqua, coming off Training Day, knows how to stage a skirmish in the foliage so that each leaf glistens with waxy moonlit peril. Owen Gleiberman

Boston Globe

At its best, the film is a nightmare embossed on a postcard -- horrific and ominously gorgeous. Wesley Morris

Product Details

• UPC: 043396108608
• Source: SONY PICTURES
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Français, Español
• Time: 2:12:00
• Sales Rank: 10,493

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Tears of the Sun / Basic

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