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Topic: Tears of the Sun

David Stambaugh
Film God

Posts: 4021
From: Eugene, Oregon
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 03-09-2003 06:42 PM

03/09/2003, Cinemark 17, Springfield OR, 12:45PM, #13,

. Attendance about 200. EXCELLENT presentation, flawless print. The theatre staff poked their heads in about half-way through the credits, saw that there were still a few people there, and retreated until the very last of us got up to leave. [thumbsup]

On the surface, this is just another well-made Hollywood war movie. But for some reason, it affected me in a way that, say, "We Were Soldiers" did not. I kept thinking of the impending Iraqi conflict, the pro and con war arguments that have been made here and elsewhere, the role of the US in maintaining world order, and plain old good-vs-bad. In this film, Bruce Willis leads an elite force of Americans who are sent into the jungle to extract a woman doctor who is running a missionary/hospital, in a country where civil war is resulting in many innocent people being slaughtered. Along the way, Willis and his men have to make some decisions about right vs. wrong; following orders or defying them. Even though this takes place in Africa, there were unmistakable parallels to the situation of liberating helpless people who must live under a brutal dictator like Saddam Hussein. I found this very timely and thought-provoking. The film also reminded me of a recent storyline on "The West Wing" where the President commits US forces to extract American citizens from a bloody civil war uprising in some nameless African country, despite the fact that "nobody knows or cares who those people are".

Willis gives one of his best performances, and indeed everyone in this film is good. Cinematography is sometimes outstanding, though some of the dark scenes are VERY dark. The sound mix is very "hot" as other threads have mentioned, and the sound design really puts the audience into the action. All in all this is the best movie I've seen in a while. [thumbsup]

[ 03-09-2003, 08:31 PM: Message edited by: David Stambaugh ]

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Josh Kirkhart
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 165
From: Austin/Houston, TX, USA
Registered: Nov 2001

posted 03-10-2003 04:25 AM

I have to agree with David, the best I've see in a while. Sound mix rocks(DTS), Beautifull cinematography and direction.

The biggest reason this movie needs to be seen is not only because its good, but the political backdrop. I, in no way believe it is our duty to 'fix' everybody elses problems and horrible things happen everywhere, but I believe anyone seeing this film will be dragged into it and come out wondering 'why?'.

All of our worries about a singular 'bad man' out there, whether its Osama or Saddam is moot when there are dozens of those men and thousands of followers each in Africa or South America. The only difference being the amount of oil, blind followers of a misconstrued faith, or plain old power trips. Obviously we have to focus on the 'Biggies' first, but shouldn't we be nipping this smaller stuff(not that crimes against humanity are small in any way) in the butt before it becomes a 'biggie'. Whether it a war on crime, drugs, terrorism, or the easter bunny we need to get proactive and start stopping this at the root instead of the bloom. Ok, getting a little whimsy.

See the movie and let it seep in, thats not Bruce Willis, thats you, would you do it, or walk away?

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Claude S. Ayakawa
Film God

Posts: 2738
From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 03-29-2003 11:59 PM

I just saw this movie today at Consoloidated Ward 16 in Honolulu and was also impressed with the presentation. As far as the movie was concerned, I was very sad watching this film because of the conflict our country is involved with Iraq. The killing and the suffering was very realistically depicted and my heart ached for the thousands of brave men and women from the US and Great Britain engaged in the war there. The entire movie had a very depressing tone and even the cinenatography brought it all out. This is very unusual because the Kualoa Valley where most of the film was shot here on the island of Oahu is very vibrant even when the day has an overcast or when it rains. I did not realize the amount of construction was done when sets of villages and buildings were constructed in the same jungle where dinosaurs roamed not too long ago in other movies. One of the most unique thing about this movie was the fact that it was photographed right here in the United States instead of the actual location or a South or Central American jungle location. That is one of the things I appreciate about our country when it comes to the diversity of it's natual beauty and people. The Ward's excellent HPS-4000 sound system by John Allen reproduced the sound flawlessly and what a trip that was. It has been a very long time when heard a sound mix as agressive as the sound in "TEARS OF THE SUN". All of the surrounds were getting a workout almost througout the entire movie and I cannot wait to get my hands on the DVD to show off my home theatre sound system.

-Claude

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