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Tears of the Sun

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Tears of the Sun
Tears of the Sun film poster
Directed byAntoine Fuqua
Written byAlex Lasker,
Patrick Cirillo
Produced byIan Bryce,
Mike Lobell,
Arnold Rifkin
StarringBruce Willis,
Monica Bellucci,
Cole Hauser
CinematographyMauro Fiore
Edited byConrad Buff
Music byHans Zimmer
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
United States 3 March 2003
Running time
121 min.
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish
Budget~ US$70,000,000

Tears of the Sun is a 2003 war film directed by Antoine Fuqua depicting a rescue mission by U.S. Navy SEALs in the midst of a fictional contemporary Nigerian civil war. The film stars Bruce Willis as the commander of the SEAL team sent into the middle of this conflict to rescue a US citizen played by Monica Bellucci. Willis produced the film through his Cheyenne Enterprises production company and took its title from an early name for the Die Hard sequel; agreeing to the Die Hard project on the condition that he could use its subtitle for his own film.

Plot

Lieutenant A.K. Waters (Willis) leads a team of U.S. Navy SEALs into Nigeria when a military coup deposes its democratic government. Their mission is to rescue Dr. Lena Kendricks (Bellucci, in one of her first Hollywood roles), a U.S. citizen by marriage running a mission and hospital. Disobeying orders, they rescue a group of missionaries and villagers and find they are being pursued by the rebel forces.

Template:Spoiler Eventually, it becomes clear that one of the refugees is the sole surviving member of the presidential family, whom the rebels wish to kill. The team and the refugees are forced to make for the Cameroon border, while being pursued by an enemy that will stop at nothing to kill Waters, his team, and the refugees.

Template:Endspoilers

Reception

The movie was met with mixed reviews. Time Out London was scathing, lambasting the fact that the film focused on a fictional atrocity, in an actual country, when there was ample opportunity to explore similar atrocities, which were historically accurate.[1]

Though many believe that the Time Out London review was poorly researched. And that the critical review's author failed to realize that the atrocity the movie had been based on, actually occurred in Nigeria, during the Biafran War years earlier.[citation needed]

Production

All the actors who played Navy SEALs had to go through a two-week boot camp and during principal photography were required to refer to each other by their characters' names, even off camera, so as to improve interaction among the characters.

This is the first film to be filmed on the Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman. The U.S. Navy SH-60B Seahawk helicopters prominently seen in the film are from HSL-37 "Easy Riders" stationed at Kaneohe Marine Corps Base Oahu, Hawaii.

The shooting was touched by misfortune both in pre-production and during. First, actor Kevin Tod Smith, who had been cast as one of Willis' men, died in an accident while visiting the set of a film in China. Then during the shoot, a stuntman was killed filming a parachuting scene near Oceano, California. Jumping with eight other skydivers from 14,000 feet, the man was supposed to land on the beach, but actually landed about 300 yards offshore and drowned.

Trivia

Cast

Tears of the Sun features an ensemble cast, including several refugees portrayed by real African refugees now living in the United States.

References

  1. ^ http://www.timeout.com/film/79003.html
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