PANORAMA

For Northwest Indiana

Tears Of
The Sun

         Rated R

     A career soldier is forced to choose between following orders and saving lives in this action thriller. Lt. A.K. Walters, who is played by Bruce Willis (Armageddon, Die Hard), is a veteran Navy SEAL. Walters commander, Tom Skerritt (War Hunt, Alien), has given his team a special assignment. The war this time is in the jungles of Nigeria. There are no moral ambiguities in this battle. A Central African nation is expected to explode into war at any moment, and Walters and his cohorts are to escort any American citizens in the area to safety, most notably Dr. Lena Kendricks (Monica Bellucci- Matrix), a doctor from the United States who has set up a clinic in the jungle. Walters 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 Walters' C.O. insists he bring back Kendricks but not her patients. Forced by his conscience to disobey orders, Walters 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.
     The rebel soldiers are slaughtering innocent men, women and children and burning their villages. The Americans have a mission-to evacuate the doctor--but as they witness the atrocities being visited on the Nigerians, their humanity kicks in and they find that they must fight for them, even if it means defying orders. Although we mainly see this through their leader, each of the Seals in turn comes to the realization that the basics of good versus evil override the original mission. They are all willing to put their lives in jeopardy to fight for these civilians and to lead them to safety.
     This was a good and a very disturbing movie, as all movies about war must be. The battles are with lots of explosions and bloodshed and heroics on the part of the Americans. There is none of the comic relief in this movie that we might associate with Willis and his "Die Hard" character, but that's as it should be. This is a great guy flick!