Men of Honor (film)

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Movie
German title Men of Honor
Original title Men of Honor
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2000
length 123 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 10
Rod
Director George Tillman Jr.
script Scott Marshall Smith
production Bill Badalato ,
Bill Cosby ,
Stan Robertson ,
Robert Teitel
music Mark Isham
camera Anthony B. Richmond
cut John Carter ,
Dirk Westervelt
occupation

Men of Honor is an American drama film directed by George Tillman Jr. from 2000. The leading roles were played by Cuba Gooding Jr. and Robert De Niro . The film tells about the life of the first African American diver in the United States Navy , Carl Brashear .

action

Carl Brashear grew up in poor conditions in Kentucky . Wanting to escape the life of a farmer , he joined the US Navy against his father's wishes in 1948 , where he served aboard the ship USS Hoist. It is taken for granted there that marines with dark skin do not get beyond the job of cooking, and Brashear first has to work in the galley. On board he meets the diver chief Leslie W. Sunday. He commands the marine diving group on board. When one day Brashear eyewitnesses a rescue operation Sundays, he decides to also become a diver. This wish astonished the superiors, but rather mocked the other soldiers. Brashear, on the other hand, remains persistent, and so he finally manages to be accepted into the diving school of the Navy after two years of continuous efforts thanks to his very good performance .

Brashear is transferred to the US Navy diving school in Bayonne , where Sunday, who has since been penalized, serves as chief instructor. Brashear proves to be very talented in all practical training courses , but has great difficulties with the theoretical training content due to his inadequate schooling, which is why he threatens to be replaced from the training. In the nearby library , he tries to fill the gaps in his knowledge and receives help from Jo, a doctor-to-be, who is preparing for her internship in the library. With great zeal, Brashear succeeds in acquiring the missing knowledge and thus decisively improving himself in the theoretical tests.

During an underwater exercise, two of Brashear's comrades are inside a training ship and are supposed to weld a leak when the ship suddenly slides a few meters below the bottom. The supply hose of one of the divers, who were using the helmet diving equipment that was common at the time , got tangled and the diver threatened to suffocate. Brashear, the only one on land in full gear waiting for his mission, is sent down by Sunday at his urging to help. While the unsuccessful diver in panic searches for his salvation and swims to the surface of the water, Brashear manages to unscrew the tangled air hose of the other and install a new one, so that the man is released again.

For his selfless rescue act , however, instead of brashear, the diver who fled the ship receives an award later. Brashear accepts the injustice in silence, but the initially negative attitude of his comrades has now turned into acceptance.

After a while, Brashear is now engaged to Jo, the final exam is due. Sunday receives pressure from his particularly racist commander. He does not want to be the first commander under whom a black man is trained as a marine diver. Therefore, Brashear should not pass the exam and thus not successfully complete the training. Brashear has already passed the theoretical test. The practical task of the test specimens is to first find the work light under water and then the individual parts of a flanged piece of pipeline. As soon as this has happened, the divers request their tools by radio, which are lowered to them in a sack from the jetty . In order not to defy the command of his commander, Sunday cuts Brashear's tool sack lengthways so that when it is lowered into the water, all individual parts such as screws , nuts and seals as well as his tools fall out and are distributed in the gravel of the river bed. The test is only passed when the divers have completely assembled the pipe parts under water. While his comrades complete the task within a few hours, Brashear has no choice but to laboriously search for the parts in the ice-cold water for hours. The commanding officer again orders that Sunday may not take him out until he has stopped moving. It's already dark, and just as Sunday wants to defy the order and have Brashear salvaged, he comes to the surface of the water with the correctly assembled pipe connection.

Brashear then becomes a salvage diver on a ship, Sunday, on the other hand, is demoted again and sentenced for his refusal to obey .

1966: Brashear is now chief himself and one of the best marine divers, while Sunday has marital problems and takes refuge in alcohol . During a mission off the Spanish coast, Brashear is supposed to track down an unexploded atomic bomb on the seabed . He is accidentally dragged along by a Russian submarine and almost gets caught in its propeller . A short time later the bomb is to be hoisted on board with the help of a crane. Brashear, who observes the maneuver from the deck , realizes that a tether is about to break. At the last moment he is able to push two comrades out of the danger zone, then he is hit by the rope, which falls back like a whip, and half of his lower leg is cut off.

For his rescue act, he is later, lying in his sick bed, honored by his superiors with praise and awards. In doing so, however, they reveal to him that he has to retire from active service because of his injury. Brashear disagrees with this as he is desperate to be promoted to Master Chief . Against his wife's wishes, he decides to have his left lower leg amputated . He wants to follow the example of some naval pilots who have been able to return to service with a prosthesis . His training successes are not as hoped, however, and his venture seems to fail when Sunday shows up and offers him his help. Brashear, who has sued his right to return to active service in the military court, finally manages, with the support of Sunday, to pass the wearing test of the diving suit newly introduced by the Navy despite his prosthetic leg : He has to be in the courtroom with the approximately 131.5 kg (290 pound) heavy suit stand up unassisted and walk twelve paces. In the cheering of the numerous spectators, the chairman then announced that Brashear would be returned to active diving service.

In the credits, the viewer learns that Brashear was promoted after two years in the rank of Master Chief and after another nine years with this rank in pension went.

Reviews

James Berardinelli wrote on ReelViews that the film was politically correct . He is manipulative in his last 20 minutes.

Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times on November 10, 2000 that the film was an old-style biography and that he meant it positively. The biography is not falsified with action scenes.

Mick LaSalle praised the portrayal of Cuba Gooding Jr. in the San Francisco Chronicle of November 10, 2000. Parts of the shown career of Carl Brashear would not contain any dramatic moments and would appear routine.

“Even if many moments remind you of master director John Ford , the quality of the film does not come close, despite the good actors. Because the drawn out morally acidic end is extremely annoying. Funny: Charlize Theron as De Niro's alcoholic wife. "

- prism-online

The magazine Cinema 5/2001 threw the movie " reactionary prior phrases" and pathos.

Awards

Robert De Niro was nominated for the 2001 Golden Satellite Award . Cuba Gooding Jr., Aunjanue Ellis and the film were nominated for an Image Award in 2001. Cuba Gooding Jr. and Scott Marshall Smith were nominated for the 2001 Black Reel Award . Mark Isham and Brian McKnight's song Win were nominated for a Grammy Award in 2002.

The German Film and Media Evaluation FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title valuable.

background

The film was shot in the US states of Oregon , Washington and California . Production costs were estimated at 32 million US dollars . The box office gross of US theaters was $ 48.8 million.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Review by James Berardinelli
  2. ^ Review by Roger Ebert
  3. ↑ Review by Mick LaSalle
  4. ^ Criticism on prism-online
  5. ↑ IMDb: Filming locations for Men of Honor
  6. ^ IMDb: Business Data for Men of Honor

Web links