Notes From D.R. | Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene

One of the reasons for the recent alleged box-office slump is the emerging cultural trend towards waiting for a movie to come out on DVD rather than spending $30-$40 on parking, concessions and movie tickets, only to put up with incessant commercials, loud trailers, and boorish patrons. Well, if you’re one of the growing multitudes who’ve decided to abandon the movie house for your house, I’d like to recommend for your viewing pleasure a movie that was unjustly ignored a few years back despite the presence of two Oscar-winning stars–one of whom merited a second Oscar for his work.

George Tillman Jr.’s Men of Honor was released just three days after the controversial Bush v. Gore election, and the film never really received the attention it deserved since the mainstream media’s attention was obviously focused on other matters. The film, which starred Cuba Gooding Jr. and Robert De Niro (and which was executive produced by Bill Cosby) told the true story of Carl M. Brashear, the first African-American diver in the U.S. Navy.

In the late-1940s, Brashear battled frightening amounts of racial harassment in his quest to become a diver. Although there were numerous occasions in which Brashear could have thrown in the towel, he absolutely refused, feeling that abandoning his goal would create an emotional wound far greater in its pain than those caused by the bigots who hurled insults–and worse–at him.

Eventually, to the chagrin of prejudiced commanding officers, Brashear achieved his goal and became a salvage diver in the mid-1950s, and served for several years until an accident at sea resulted in the amputation of his left leg in 1966. Instead of accepting his enforced early retirement, he focused on returning to the position he loved, fighting anti-disability bias that was almost as severe as the anti-black bias he confronted as a younger man.

This is Gooding’s finest performance, soaring far above his award-winning turn in Jerry Maguire four years earlier. His work is every bit as emotionally deep as anything that Denzel Washington has ever done. In every moment Gooding is on the screen, you see both the pain of his battles against two versions of ignorance, and the determination that will prevent him from succumbing to that pain. De Niro, as a (composite) commanding officer named Billy Sunday, also delivers one of his best performances, as a man who struggles to square his admiration for Brashear’s determination with his contempt for the diver’s color. The internal conflict that De Niro wrestles with goes a long way towards proving the point that Jim Crow-era prejudice had a deleterious effect on the majority as well as the minority. Solid performances are also delivered by Hal Holbrook (as another prejudiced commanding officer), Charlize Theron (as De Niro’s wife), and Aunjanue Ellis (as Gooding’s spouse).

Ever since I first saw the film five years ago, I’ve never forgotten how inspiring Brashear’s life story is. It really is a film that (despite its R rating) parents should watch with their children. If you’re a mother or father concerned about the negative, defeatist, and hate-filled messages that your kids are exposed to on a daily basis, this film certainly provides an alternative perspective–a far more positive one. The courage that Brashear exhibited in his life is something that any one, of any race or background, can admire.

Men of Honor is also, in its own way, one of the most patriotic movies I have ever seen. It’s not jingoistic by any means, but it does show the power of the American Dream, and its ability to inspire anyone to achieve it. Brashear is living proof that anyone can succeed in America if they have unlimited determination, and Men of Honor is more than a fitting tribute to him. Buy or rent it this weekend. You’ll be thinking about it for weeks afterwards.