A heroic life gets a suitably dramatic retelling in George Tillman Jr.'s docudrama Men Of Honor. Based on the true story of Carl Brashear, the first African American to become a United
States Navy master diver, the film follows the conventional yet pleasurable against-all-odds
narrative. Carl Brashear (played with noble grace by Cuba Gooding Jr.) is the son of a degraded
southern sharecropper. Determined to succeed in the vocation he believes he was born for,
Brashear enlists in the navy. Once there, however, the determined young man finds his dream
inaccessible--thwarted by the antagonistic forces of institutional and personal racism. When, after a
long and difficult struggle, he is finally allowed into diving school, he finds himself under the
authority of Billy Sunday (Robert De Niro). A former master diver whose injured lung has left him
permanently above water, Sunday simultaneously becomes Brashear's most vicious adversary and
most loyal supporter, motivating him to succeed. The story that follows is a highly emotional wave
of ups and downs--Brashear unbelievably overcomes one barrier only to be met by the next, even
larger one. Men Of Honor is at times heartbreaking and painful to watch, but the triumphant
ending makes for a deeply satisfying payoff.
Directed by George Tillman, Jr. - Rated R
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