TEARS OF THE SUN

HANS ZIMMER

Rating:

Original Review: War movies seem to be the new oeuvre at Media Ventures, especially war movies which take place in far-flung corners of the world. Following their contribution to Terence Malick's Thin Red Line, Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down, their latest project is Tears of the Sun, which basically tells the same story of American soldiers caught in the crossfire of a bloody civil war - but this time the setting is the inhospitable jungles of west Africa as opposed to the dusty streets of Mogadishu.

Directed by Antoine "Training Day" Fuqua, Tears of the Sun stars Bruce Willis as Lt. Waters, the leader of an American special-ops group who are sent into the dense jungles of Nigeria to rescue Médecins Sans Frontières doctor Lena Kendricks (Monica Bellucci), who finds herself in danger when rebels overthrow the Government. However, Kendricks refuses to leave her isolated hospital unless Waters and his men agree to help transport 70 refugees to the nearby Cameroonian border, else they be slaughtered by the vicious, unforgiving rebel army. Reluctantly, Waters agrees, and soon he and his men are trekking through the forest with a large group of scared Nigerian men and women - all the while being pursued by the rebels.

You will notice that I refer to the music being composed by "Media Ventures", as opposed to Hans Zimmer himself. This is because, more than any other recent score, Tears of the Sun is a true collaborative effort, involving seven composers, and two orchestrators in addition to Zimmer, and mentioning Harry Gregson-Williams, Klaus Badelt, Gavin Greenaway and Geoff Zanelli in the "thanks". What makes Tears of the Sun different from, say, Pirates of the Caribbean, is that it all actually comes together well, with the disparate elements working as a seamless whole. Part Gladiator, part Thin Red Line, part Pearl Harbor, part Lion King, and part Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, this score is actually one of the highest quality efforts to emerge from their stable in quite a while.

It is common practice to score war movies these days in contradictory fashion - that is, by counterpointing the bloody carnage with music so beautiful it renders it poetic and moving. Georges Delerue and Oliver Stone, quoting Samuel Barber, started this trend with Platoon in 1986, and in Tears of the Sun, Zimmer and company follow the trend. Several of the orchestral tracks heard in this score are achingly beautiful. 'Heart of Darkness' resonates softly to Malcolm McNab's solo trumpet. 'Small Piece for Doumbek and Strings' weaves a mesmerizing spell, not least through the inclusion of a quietly chanting African choir and Ali Tavallali's performance of the titular percussion instrument. The first 'Kopano' features a stunning string and choral refrain, infused with tragedy and loss, which is quite possibly one of the most soul-stirring single track to emerge from Media Ventures since the emotional high points of Gladiator.

However, the highlight of the score is certainly the penultimate, 'The Jablonsky Variations on a Theme by HZ/Cameroon Border Post'. Steve Jablonsky, of all the current crop of Media Ventures underlings, looks the most likely to become a fully-fledged solo composer in his own right, having scored the Emmy-nominated 'Live from Baghdad' last year, and being attached to the horror remake 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' later in 2003. Here, Jablonsky crafts a stunningly beautiful, operatic elegy mixed with Lisa Gerrard's heart-wrenching vocals, which leaves a lasting impression.

The subsequent 'Cameron Border Post' sequence is wonderful, combining Lebo M's powerful vocals with a bold, heroic action motif that illustrates the best moments of Hans Zimmer's overpoweringly patriotic and triumphant style of thematic composing. 'Carnage' and 'Cry in Silence' are similar, two cacophonous action cues, the former opening with some massively dissonant writing for choir, percussion, orchestra and electronics, before calming itself down for the remainder of the eight-minute length.

Other parts of the score are augmented by attractive, scene-setting world music orchestrations, especially the haunting vocal talents of Lebo M. In both 'Yekeleni' and 'Kopano', Zimmer and the South African maestro combine to great effect, producing a more adult version of the vocals from The Lion King which, when mixed with thumping African drums, leaves a pleasing result. The conclusive song, 'Kopano III', sees Lebo M in full-on rejoicing mode, singing about the beauty of the African landscape and the conquering spirit of the African people in a way which mixes the best of The Power of One, The Lion King and John Williams's Amistad.

I'm still undecided as to whether the Media Ventures set-up is a good thing or not. As I have said before, as a way of slowly introducing young and talented composers into the cutthroat world of commercial film music, it is unparalleled, and allows the best and the brightest opportunities that they would otherwise never come by. To be fair to Hans, he always gives credit where credit is due, and the likes of Steve Jablonsky and Heitor Pereira and Jim Dooley would surely not be where they are today without their MV involvement. However, along with giving them desk space, Media Ventures also seems to drum into its young charges a "sound" and a way of scoring which I refuse to believe does not stifle their individual creativity.

Tears of the Sun, taken at face value, is a good score - I thoroughly enjoy listening to it, and the bringing together of the various disparate elements do make for a tremendously entertaining album. However, for all its dramatic and orchestrational excellence, is still very much a Media Ventures product score in every sense of the word, and the opposing stylistics are easily identifiable. It may be great to listen to, but I'd still much rather hear one composer's individual voice responding to the film, rather than a combination of twelve people's combined forces.

Track Listing:

Running Time: 46 minutes 35 seconds

Varése Sarabande VSD-6457 (2003)

Music composed by Hans Zimmer. Conducted by Bruce Fowler. Orchestrations by Bruce Fowler and Suzette Moriarty. Additional music by Heitor Pereira, Lebo M, Lisa Gerrard, Steve Jablonsky, Andreas Wollenweider, Martin Tillmann and Jim Dooley. Featured musical soloists Hugh Marsh, Heitor Pereira, Ali Tavallali, Martin Tillmann and Andreas Vollenweider. Special vocal performances by Lisa Gerrard and Lebo M. Recorded and mixed by Alan Meyerson and Slamm Andrews. Edited by Bob Badami. Mastered by Bruce Maddocks. Album produced by Hans Zimmer.

Cinemusic Online: Review by Ryan Keaveney (***1/2)
Filmtracks: Review by Christian Clemmensen (***)
Movie Wave: Review by James Southall (***)
Score!: Review by Andreas Lindahl (***)
Soundtrack Express: Review by Tom Daish (***1/2)
Tracksounds: Review by Steve Townsley (****)


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