Tears of the Sun

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Whether Hans Zimmer is scoring something or not, the moment there is word about him scoring some flick, people get real enthusiastic about the actual promise of a killer soundtrack. Whether Hannibal, Pearl Harbor or Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Zimmer sees to be as popular as ever. With Tears of the Sun it didn't seem to be any different. A war film with the possible chance of hearing something in the vein of The Thin Red Line and the best moments of Black Hawk Down, yet with African instrumentation and influences seemed to be the prospect. As that is what people got, a mix between The Thin Red Line's ever powerful string work, the roughness of Black Hawk Down and the African influences and ethnicity of either The Power of One or Gladiator. Add to that the distinct voices of Lebo M and Lisa Gerrard and the talents of Pereira, Jablonsky, Vollenweider and various others, Tears of the Sun is another collaboration of efforts from all styles of the Media Ventures company. Now how this sounds like is something entirely to your tastes. Lately, Zimmer has been showing a different side of him, Black Hawk Down was daring, Pearl Harbor playing it safe and either of those two didn't completely satisfy everybody. Tears of the Sun seems to do the same for all its worth. What is disappointing about this score is that it tries too hard to set the mood and not the emotion or action. The Thin Red Line equally set the mood but in such a context that the melody was stronger and more emotional then here. With this score the actual atmosphere is sometimes so well created, it loses the focus when separated from visual.

Since lately hearing some criticism about this score, I beg to differ even before I have seen the film. Just read several of the following statements: "Hans Zimmer's wretched fake-world-music score", "the moral outrage of the atrocities is drowned out by the swelling music of every heroic American sacrifice" and "several scenes are trivialized by intrusive, geopolitical music by Hans Zimmer". First of all fake-world-music is not of this case since the world is Africa and Zimmer develops his score in the percussive and ethnic sense of the movie, swelling music of heroic American sacrifice is something I can't comment on but the music swells so strong in track 'The Jablonsky Variations on a Theme by HZ' that I honestly believe that it goes about the emotional sorrow of the refugees AND the heroic sacrifices with that. Intrusive is perhaps indeed the word but Zimmer as with Black Hawk Down made sure the music made such an impact of at times atonal music that the fierce actions, intentional horror was perfectly made aware to the general public. As ever, Zimmer didn't call for an easy score and here is another example of how well he wants to bring difference in his career, if that doesn't mean I'm gonna like it all the same. 'Yekeleni Part I / Mia's Lullaby' opens the score with tribal percussion, Lebo M and Lisa Gerrard but the score doesn't begin good until track 'Heart Of Darkness' begins, the strings are just in the Thin Red Line territory. 'Small Piece for Doumbek and Strings / Kopano Part I' is a small highlight with its guitar, percussion and above all light string work, bringing a climax around the 5th minute of immense magnitude, Gerrard's voice over this makes it much more emotional even if she doesn't come close to the emotion reached in Gladiator.

An example of mood music is 'Under the Forest Calm', relaxing through guitar and percussion. 'Yekeleni Part II / Carnage' is less interesting, at times creating pure ruckus (again a sense of mood creating for the film) and string work that almost reaches to the purest form of minimalism. It is not until 'The Jablonsky Variations on a Theme by HZ / Cameroon Border Post' that people will see why Zimmer's talents were called upon. Definitely already one of the highlights of this 2003, just as Beyond Rangoon, an immense climax is reached but here the sound is different, faster emotional, not as relieving but more on edge, it is still the purest sign of Zimmer's undeniable talent. First of all the purest form of emotion is reached when the thickest of strings collide with Gerrard's voice, until a short percussive pace is created, making way for 5 minutes of non stopping pace. The mix of Zimmer's synths and Lebo M's constant on and off singing can work a bit interfering, but the effect is stunning nonetheless. Especially here Zimmer's theme (which was heard more sorrowfully in tracks 3 and 6) is much more faster and charged up, while another theme is giving a pure sense of emotional sorrow. The ending is a typical African song like we heard many before of Zimmer and Lebo M. It is nonetheless attractive and good. Tears of the Sun is actually not what I wanted. My concern lies with the fact that just like Black Hawk Down, the mood is created so carefully that the melody is often not used at all, while examples of melody (tracks 3, 6 and 9) bring the best moments of the score to forth. On the other hand, it is another example of how Zimmer can sound so different each time, making it at least intriguing of what you are gonna get next. A score with advantages as disadvantages but having several tracks worthy of praise.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Yekeleni Part I * / Mia's Lullaby ** (2.34)

2. Heart Of Darkness (2.00)

3. Small Piece For Doumbek And Strings / Kopano Part I + (8.54)

4. Under The Forest Calm ++ (1.07)

5. Yekeleni Part II * / Carnage (7.54)

6. Kopano Part II + (2.24)

7. Night (2.33)

8. Cry In Silence +++ (2.04)

9. The Jablonsky Variations On A Theme By HZ *** / Cameroon Border Post + (8.41) Excellent Track

10. The Journey / Kopano Part III + (8.17)

* Written by Heitor Pereira & Lebo M

** Written by Lisa Gerrard & Steve Jablonsky

*** Written by Hans Zimmer & Steve Jablonsky

+ Written by Hans Zimmer & Lebo M

++ Written by Andreas Vollenweider & Heitor Pereira

+++ Written by Martin Tillman & Jim Dooley

Total Length: 46.38

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: Hans Zimmer ===