Antione Fuqua's "Tears of the Sun" is a brutally poetic examination of the United States role as sole super power in the world today. "You did a good thing today,” says Dr. Lena Hendricks (Monica Bellucci) after Lieutenant A.K. Waters (Bruce Willis) ignored the rules of engagement and stopped the slaughter of a Nigerian village by rebel soldiers. "I don't know if it was a good thing. Its been so long since I did anything good, that I'm not sure anymore" replies Waters. Waters' confusion comes from the fact that the hands of US fighting men have been tied in political knots ever since Vietnam. Evil exists in the world. We haven't been able to seem to do a thing about it. Should we try? Should we sit by and let evil flourish? "Tears of the Sun" ends with the quote by Edmund Burke: "All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing." Fuqua's "Tears of the Sun" examines that conflict in the heart of an American Navy officer.

Written by Alex Lasker and Patrick Cirillo, "Tears of the Sun" is much more than an action film. The visually stunning film is a modern day version of "Apocalypse Now," but with clearer vision. Some may call the film propaganda. To a certain extent all movies are. "Tears of the Sun" centers on a rescue mission into the jungles of Nigeria during a military coup. Waters’s team of Navy SEALS are sent to a rural mission to rescue an American doctor, two nuns and a priest before they are overrun by Muslim rebels. The military coup has been followed by ethnic cleansing as Christians in the south are being slaughtered. The president's entire family has been assassinated. Waters's crew has been told they can fire to defend themselves, but do not engage the enemy otherwise.

Once the team reaches the mission, they find that the doctor will not leave unless the soldiers evacuate the 70 or so people who sought refuge at the mission. Waters lies to the good doctor and all of those able to walk on their own are evacuated to the landing zone. Once the helicopters arrive, Waters has the doctor forcibly put on the chopper and the soldiers leave all of the indigenous civilians to their fate. On the way back to the aircraft carrier, the choppers fly over the mission. It is in flames, with dead bodies scattered everywhere. Something in Waters snaps. He orders the choppers to return to the LZ. Waters loads the chopper with those too old or young to march. His team begins to lead the others on a 40-mile march to Cameroon.

The film's centerpiece involves Waters crisis whether to intervene with military force to prevent the slaughter of an entire village. Waters team overlooks a burning jungle village as the cries of those being murdered, raped and tortured loft up through the brush. "What about the rules of engagement?" a soldier asks. "We're already engaged." The team puts an end to the horror. In the films most brutal scene, a young woman lays dying after having her breasts cut off. Her dead infant lies nearby. Dr. Hendricks ends the poor soul's suffering with a large dose of morphine. The scene seems to go on forever. Bruce Willis says so much in this sequence without uttering one word. In a series of cuts from Mr. Willis to the carnage he has observed, Willis is Everyman at the crossroads. He has disobeyed orders by doing what is right. How much is enough? When will appeasement stop and the righteous vanquishment of an evil enemy to all that is true and good in the world begin?

"Tears of the Sun" takes up the point of view of those living under the harsh rule of maniacal zealots. Sgt. Zee (Eomann Walker) is outraged by the inhumanity shown the woman who was so brutally raped and tortured. "That is what they do. They cut of the breasts of nursing mothers so they can not feed their children. That is what they do" responds a young woman who grew up in the country. News footage from Lebanon, Bosnia and other sites where ethnic cleansing has taken place substantiate that this scene is not just the figment of a Hollywood writer's imagination. The civilian characters in "Tears of the Sun" want the evil in their country stopped. Just as those in other countries around the world today want it stopped.

"Tears of the Sun" boasts a rousing score by Hans Zimmer. This is a big, serious film that I imagine the producers have Oscar hopes for. Zimmer's African flavored score is a sure contender for next years Oscars. Bruce Willis gives the most refined performance of his career. There are no "Yippee Cay Yea" lines in this film. Willis's Lt. Waters is a dedicated Navel officer who makes one mistake. He leaves the door to his heart open while on a mission. I'd like to think that any US soldier in similar situations would do the same. Willis's performance lacks any sentimentality. The filmmakers bravely avoid any romantic involvement between Willis and Italian beauty Monica Bellucci. Screenwriters Lasker and Cirillo also make the smart move of not having the characters really open up and talk until after the massacre at the village. The events they witness are so shocking and cathartic that the hardened soldiers almost have to reveal their inner self. They don't go off like a bunch of simpering Phil Donahues, but they do let in enough emotion to make the scene work.

"Tears of the Sun" is not your run of the mill action/war film. The battles scenes are fierce and exhilarating without being overly cinematic. The audience doesn't revel in the beauty of the carnage the way you would in a Sam Peckinpah film. Here, you want to duck and cover. "Tears of the Sun" uses tension to keep the audience on edge. Much of the film takes place at night in the rain. The filmmakers took a plot device from the final episode of "M*A*S*H" to build tension during a nighttime scene in which the refuges collide with a patrol of rebel forces. A crying baby may lead to catastrophe. Even though "Tears of the Sun" has a couple of cliched moments like this, the film still works. "Tears of the Sun" has a definite agenda. It is a rousing and intelligent film, which will no doubt upset some folks who would rather placate Iraq and North Korea than expose their evil to the light of day.

Rusty White, 2003