Based on the true story of diver Carl Brashear, Men of Honor tastes like "I've seen this movie before". Little or nothing adds to other productions of the genre, but it manages to move and teach us valuable life lessons. The story revolves around the obsession of sailor Carl (Cuba Gooding Jr., Oscar for supporting role for Jerry Maguire) to become a diver responsible for special missions, in the United States Navy. However, no matter how hard he studies and strives to achieve his goal, Carl will always have two big obstacles ahead. First, the fact that he is black and wants to rise in life within a racist institution like the Navy. Second, the presence of the unbalanced teacher and commander Sunday (Robert De Niro, grimace as usual), willing to do anything to stop young Carl's paths.
Men of Honor is a duel between two stubborn characters and two talented actors. Carl represents freedom, the change of air from a rigid militaristic scheme, willpower. Sunday wears the shirt of an old-fashioned, racist and reactionary Navy, personifying intolerance to the limit of the unbearable. Between the two, however, a Manichean script emerges, which polarizes its main characters in a juvenile way and fails to work the theme in depth. No pun intended. Director George Tillman Jr. Wastes a potential cast with two-dimensional characters that border on the caricature.
Although Men of Honor is based on Brashear's real life, and the production had his advice, De Niro's character is the fruit of fiction, as he was created from the combination of several men that the officer has met in his career. This makes the character bear a heavy load, single-handedly representing all the prejudices and hostile attitudes that Brashear faced. D Niro is an actor who needs no comments, doing another good performance. Managing to fluctuate between the extremely contrasting personalities of his roles, the actor gives the correct timing to the character Leslie Sunday (Billy). It's not his best career performance, not even close, but a job well done.
Cuba Gooding Jr. It presents itself in great shape. The actor already had some experience with the naval service by virtue of A Few Good Men (1992), when he played a supporting role. Later he would still appear, very well, at Pearl Harbor. Playing Carl Brashear is a difficult task, considering that the film presents several temporal advances and behavioral changes of the character, something that Cuba did very well.
The approach to prejudice suffered by blacks is one of the main points raised in the script, by society in general and, as shown here, among US Navy officers between the 1950s and 1960s. This prejudice of other sailors is personified in the role of Rourke (Holt McCallany), a candidate of far inferior ability and character to Carl, but who enjoys prestige and privileges in the eyes of the naval command. The scene that best represents this difference in the treatment received by Rourke, to the detriment of Carl's attitudes, is one in which, during a training session where they simulated a repair on a sunken ship's hull, which ends up giving way, the air hose of the companion of Rourke is trapped and he can't leave the place.
Carl, in a heroic act, dives with another air hose, so they can leave the place. Rourke ends up abandoning his partner, not believing there is time for the hose change to be made. Carl, not only manages to make the switch, but saves the other man's life. Sunday's look at Rourke as he resurfaces sums up the situation well. The next day, Rourke is awarded the Medal of Bravery and Honor for "having risked his own life to save another teammate" straight from the White House. This scene is emblematic, as we note Rourke's shame in receiving the medal and Sunday's contempt for handing him such an honor.
Carl Brashear still suffers from several prejudices, but always overcoming all challenges with a lot of determination, such as the test of assembling a part underwater that Carl stays more than nine hours, because he had his tool bag cut by the chief diver, or else in another scene it clearly shows the excessive rigor that the head diver challenges him to a dispute in which the two are with the wetsuit and with the helmet full of water, where Carl wins by staying more than four minutes without breathing causing envy and surprising the all of the crew. We also see that after losing a leg in an accident, he is forced to walk in a wetsuit weighing approximately 132 kilos in a courtroom where everyone looked at him with suspicion if he would be able to prove that he would be able to walk the twelve steps determined by the superior, with your courage and honor.
Another problem with the film's script is the insertion of the protagonists' wives in the story and the relationship between the couples. Jo (Aunjanue Ellis), a public library employee who studies medicine, helps Carl with his studies so he doesn't fail his theory exams. Jo and Carl see each other two or three times and already love each other and plan to get married and build a life together in the blink of an eye. That simple. Gwen (Charlize Theron), Sunday's wife, appears in the middle of the film, in a scene of conflict, where it is clear that the couple goes through many problems, although these problems are not clarified right away. With no important role in the story, Gwen and Jo are only there to highlight how the characters are victims of themselves, their addictions, their egos, their dogged pursuit of the top. But everything is handled too quickly, almost superficially. Sunday's alcoholism is not even mentioned until the fight with Gwen, for example.
You never know, in movies based on true history, how much truth there is. But the prejudice is not mitigated by director George Tillman Jr., who, incidentally, is also black. This is the filmmaker's second film, which debuted with the equally melodramatic "Always on Sundays," which focuses on an African-American family's Sunday lunch tradition. Despite being "formulaic" and too long, the script hits the nail on the head, which, of course, takes place in a military court. After losing a leg in an accident, Carl is forced to walk around in a wetsuit weighing more than 100 kilos to prove that he is still capable of staying in the profession. And you thought his life was an ordeal.
There is no explicit sex and some light verbal sexual references. There is a lot of offensive language in the film - both profanity and racial epithets - but this story takes place in the military world and most men, pardon the cliché, swear like sailors. The public should be more offended by the unfair treatment Brashear suffered in his quest to be a chief diver. This is, ultimately, a story of triumph over prejudice and adversity, as well as redemption. The film reflects our life and ends up showing us how weak we are sometimes, we need claw, humility, strength and the will to win from a man in a totally different environment from where he always lived. In addition, he had to face racism at the time portrayed in the film. The plot of the drama is a great lesson of life, where we must keep in mind that we should never be beaten by people who "think" that they have power and shows that in order to overcome adversities, in the pursuit of a goal, self-esteem must come first. Place, always wanting to learn.
Men of Honor is a duel between two stubborn characters and two talented actors. Carl represents freedom, the change of air from a rigid militaristic scheme, willpower. Sunday wears the shirt of an old-fashioned, racist and reactionary Navy, personifying intolerance to the limit of the unbearable. Between the two, however, a Manichean script emerges, which polarizes its main characters in a juvenile way and fails to work the theme in depth. No pun intended. Director George Tillman Jr. Wastes a potential cast with two-dimensional characters that border on the caricature.
Although Men of Honor is based on Brashear's real life, and the production had his advice, De Niro's character is the fruit of fiction, as he was created from the combination of several men that the officer has met in his career. This makes the character bear a heavy load, single-handedly representing all the prejudices and hostile attitudes that Brashear faced. D Niro is an actor who needs no comments, doing another good performance. Managing to fluctuate between the extremely contrasting personalities of his roles, the actor gives the correct timing to the character Leslie Sunday (Billy). It's not his best career performance, not even close, but a job well done.
Cuba Gooding Jr. It presents itself in great shape. The actor already had some experience with the naval service by virtue of A Few Good Men (1992), when he played a supporting role. Later he would still appear, very well, at Pearl Harbor. Playing Carl Brashear is a difficult task, considering that the film presents several temporal advances and behavioral changes of the character, something that Cuba did very well.
The approach to prejudice suffered by blacks is one of the main points raised in the script, by society in general and, as shown here, among US Navy officers between the 1950s and 1960s. This prejudice of other sailors is personified in the role of Rourke (Holt McCallany), a candidate of far inferior ability and character to Carl, but who enjoys prestige and privileges in the eyes of the naval command. The scene that best represents this difference in the treatment received by Rourke, to the detriment of Carl's attitudes, is one in which, during a training session where they simulated a repair on a sunken ship's hull, which ends up giving way, the air hose of the companion of Rourke is trapped and he can't leave the place.
Carl, in a heroic act, dives with another air hose, so they can leave the place. Rourke ends up abandoning his partner, not believing there is time for the hose change to be made. Carl, not only manages to make the switch, but saves the other man's life. Sunday's look at Rourke as he resurfaces sums up the situation well. The next day, Rourke is awarded the Medal of Bravery and Honor for "having risked his own life to save another teammate" straight from the White House. This scene is emblematic, as we note Rourke's shame in receiving the medal and Sunday's contempt for handing him such an honor.
Carl Brashear still suffers from several prejudices, but always overcoming all challenges with a lot of determination, such as the test of assembling a part underwater that Carl stays more than nine hours, because he had his tool bag cut by the chief diver, or else in another scene it clearly shows the excessive rigor that the head diver challenges him to a dispute in which the two are with the wetsuit and with the helmet full of water, where Carl wins by staying more than four minutes without breathing causing envy and surprising the all of the crew. We also see that after losing a leg in an accident, he is forced to walk in a wetsuit weighing approximately 132 kilos in a courtroom where everyone looked at him with suspicion if he would be able to prove that he would be able to walk the twelve steps determined by the superior, with your courage and honor.
Another problem with the film's script is the insertion of the protagonists' wives in the story and the relationship between the couples. Jo (Aunjanue Ellis), a public library employee who studies medicine, helps Carl with his studies so he doesn't fail his theory exams. Jo and Carl see each other two or three times and already love each other and plan to get married and build a life together in the blink of an eye. That simple. Gwen (Charlize Theron), Sunday's wife, appears in the middle of the film, in a scene of conflict, where it is clear that the couple goes through many problems, although these problems are not clarified right away. With no important role in the story, Gwen and Jo are only there to highlight how the characters are victims of themselves, their addictions, their egos, their dogged pursuit of the top. But everything is handled too quickly, almost superficially. Sunday's alcoholism is not even mentioned until the fight with Gwen, for example.
You never know, in movies based on true history, how much truth there is. But the prejudice is not mitigated by director George Tillman Jr., who, incidentally, is also black. This is the filmmaker's second film, which debuted with the equally melodramatic "Always on Sundays," which focuses on an African-American family's Sunday lunch tradition. Despite being "formulaic" and too long, the script hits the nail on the head, which, of course, takes place in a military court. After losing a leg in an accident, Carl is forced to walk around in a wetsuit weighing more than 100 kilos to prove that he is still capable of staying in the profession. And you thought his life was an ordeal.
There is no explicit sex and some light verbal sexual references. There is a lot of offensive language in the film - both profanity and racial epithets - but this story takes place in the military world and most men, pardon the cliché, swear like sailors. The public should be more offended by the unfair treatment Brashear suffered in his quest to be a chief diver. This is, ultimately, a story of triumph over prejudice and adversity, as well as redemption. The film reflects our life and ends up showing us how weak we are sometimes, we need claw, humility, strength and the will to win from a man in a totally different environment from where he always lived. In addition, he had to face racism at the time portrayed in the film. The plot of the drama is a great lesson of life, where we must keep in mind that we should never be beaten by people who "think" that they have power and shows that in order to overcome adversities, in the pursuit of a goal, self-esteem must come first. Place, always wanting to learn.