Tears of the Sun is a 2003 American war action thriller film depicting a U.S. Navy SEAL team rescue mission amidst the civil war in Nigeria. Lieutenant A.K. Waters (Bruce Willis) commands the team sent to rescue U.S. citizen Dr. Lena Fiore Kendricks (Monica Bellucci) before the approaching rebels reach her jungle hospital. The film was directed by Antoine Fuqua.
Willis produced Tears of the Sun through Cheyenne Enterprises, his production company, and took the title from an early sub-title for Live Free or Die Hard, the fourth film in the Die Hard series. The cast of Tears of the Sun includes actual African refugees living in the United States.
Plot[]
A coup d'état led by exiled General Mustafa Yakubu overthrows the President of Nigeria Samuel Azuka, sending Nigeria into chaos and causing an ethnic conflict between the Fulani Muslims and the Christian Igbo. Samuel and his family are assassinated, and foreigners are evacuated from the country.
Aboard the Harry S. Truman, a Navy Seal team, led by A.K. Waters, is tasked by Captain Bill Rhodes to extract Dr. Lena Fiore Kendricks. She is a U.S. citizen by marriage to the late Dr. John Kendricks who was killed by rebels in Sierra Leone. Also the mission's priest and two nuns are also authorised to come, if they so choose.
The team reaches Kendricks, who refuses to leave without her patients. Waters calls Rhodes for options; after a conversation, he concedes to Kendricks' wishes and agrees to take those refugees who can walk. Kendricks begins assembling the able-bodied; the priest and the nuns stay behind to care for the injured.
Irritated and behind schedule, the team and the refugees leave the hospital mission at daybreak. At nightfall, they take a break when rebels approach their position, and Waters stealthily kills one to prevent them from being discovered. Kendricks warns Waters that the rebels are heading to the mission, but he is determined to carry out his orders, so they continue to the extraction point. At the mission, the staff and refugees are detained by the rebels. Despite the priest's pleas for mercy, they murder him and the remaining occupants.
When the team arrives at the extraction point, Waters' initial plan becomes clear: the SEALs turn away the refugees from the waiting helicopter. Waters forces Kendricks into the helicopter against her will, leaving the refugees stranded in the jungle, defenseless against the rebels. En route back to the Harry Truman, they fly over the original mission compound, seeing it destroyed and all its occupants murdered.
Remorseful, Waters orders the pilot to return to the refugees. He loads as many as he can into the helicopter and decides to escort the remaining ones to the Cameroon border. En route, the SEALs discover the rebels are tracking them. The team enters a village whose inhabitants are being massacred. Waters and his team kill the rebels, but are shaken by the atrocities they have seen committed against the villagers.
Realizing the rebels are approaching their position, the SEALs conclude that a refugee is transmitting their location. One of the recently arrived ones, Gideon, is the informant and tries to run but is shot by Silk. He was bugged with a transmitter.
Suspicious, the SEAL's search for his co-conspirators reveals the presence of Arthur Azuka, the surviving son of Samuel Azuka. The rebels are hunting them as Samuel was not only the president of the country but also the tribal king of the Ibo. As the only surviving member of this royal bloodline, Arthur is the only person with a legitimate claim to the Ibo nation.
The SEALs decide to continue escorting the refugees to Cameroon. A firefight ensues when the rebels catch up with them, and the SEALs decide to stay behind as rearguard to buy the refugees enough time to reach the border. Slo, Lake, Flea, and Silk die in the firefight, and Zee calls in for air support. Waters, Red, Doc, and Zee are wounded but direct the jets on where to attack the rebels. Air support wipes out the rebels as Rhodes arrives at the border with reinforcements. He orders the gate open, letting in the SEALs and refugees.
Rhodes promises Waters that he will recover the bodies of Waters' men. Kendricks bids farewells to her Nigerian friends and flies away in a helicopter while comforting Waters, watching as Arthur is surrounded by his people proclaiming their freedom.
Cast[]
- Bruce Willis as Lieutenant Alec Kevin A.K. Waters, US Navy - Team Leader Commander
- Monica Bellucci as Dr. Lena Fiore Kendricks - Doctor at the International Humanitarian Aid
- Tom Skerritt as Captain Bill Rhodes, US Navy - Commanding Officer
- Cole Hauser as James "Red" Atkins, US Navy - Heavy Gunner and Explosives Specialist
- Paul Francis as Danny "Doc" Kelley, US Navy - Corpsman
- Eamonn Walker as Ellis "Zee" Pettigrew, US Navy - Radioman and Grenadier
- Johnny Messner as Johnny Kelly "JKL" Lake, US Navy - Recon and Pointman
- Nick Chinlund as Michael "Slo" Slowenski, US Navy - SAW Gunner and Reconnaissance GPS Enemy Tech
- Charles Ingram as Demetrius "Silk" Owens, US Navy - Sniper
- Chad Smith as Jason "Flea" Mabry, US Navy - Marksman
- Cornelia Hayes O'Herlihy as Sister Siobhan O'Connor
- Fionnula Flanagan as Sister Grace McIntyre
- Pierrino Mascarino as Father Giovanni Fianni
- Peter Mensah as Commander Samuel Terwase
- Malick Bowens as Colonel Idris Sadick
- Akosua Busia as Patience Ozokwor
- Sammi Rotibi as Arthur Azuka, son of Nigeria President Samuel Azuka
- Benjamin Ochieng as Colonel Emanuel Okeze, bodyguard of Arthur Azuka