Men of Honor (2000) * * *

 

Directed by:  George Tillman, Jr.

Starring:  Cuba Gooding, Jr., Robert De Niro, Charlize Theron, Aunjanue Ellis, Hal Holbrook, Michael Rapaport, David Conrad

We should have more people in the world like Carl Brashear, who through sheer will, determination, and a never-say-die attitude became the first Black Navy master diver and was later restored to full duty even after he had part of a leg amputated following an accident aboard a ship.   Brashear is played by Cuba Gooding, Jr. in Men of Honor, who dials back his natural enthusiasm to give an honest portrayal of a man who doesn't quit even in the face of systemic racism and overwhelming odds against him.

Brashear, lacking even a high school education as the son of a poor sharecropper, joins the Navy after World War II.   Since the armed forces were slow to adopt President Harry Truman's decree to desegregate the military, Brashear's duty was limited to being a cook aboard a warship.   He witnesses Master Chief diver Billy Sunday (De Niro) rescue men thrown overboard and decides to be a diver himself, which was unheard of and not encouraged in the post-World War II Navy.   Sunday himself is demoted to the position of diving instructor at the Navy diving school in Bayonne, New Jersey after running afoul of his superiors.   Sunday is not welcoming to Brashear, deridingly calling him "Cookie" and turning his class against him because he is Black.   One of the moments which ring the most true in Men of Honor is when Private Snowhill (Rapaport), who befriends Brashear while the rest shun him, says as his reason:  "I'm from Wisconsin."

Sunday cruelly makes things hard on Brashear, hoping he'll quit the program, but Brashear's persistence and skill force Sunday to gradually change his mind.   Brashear may be the best diver he has ever seen, and even he has to admit it.   Sunday's commanding officer, the eccentric Mister Pappy (Holbrook), who views the school from his apartment atop a tower, orders Sunday not to pass Brashear on the day of the final underwater test, but Sunday refuses and is further demoted down the chain of command.

Brashear finds time to romance a local librarian and medical student Jo (Ellis) who helps him pass his classroom exams and later marries him.   However, Jo becomes but another in a long trail of movie spouses who dismays that her husband is placing career above family.  Maybe that happened, maybe it didn't (Brashear was divorced three times according to Wikipedia), but it feels more like cliche.   Also, I wasn't quite sure why Lt. Hanks (Conrad), a thorn in both the sides of Sunday and Brashear, is portrayed as such a smug villain.   I suppose it's to set up the grand finale in which Brashear shows him up by showing the ability to walk twelve steps while wearing a 200-plus pound diving suit.   I hope he never had to take thirteen steps because twelve was daunting enough.

Men of Honor is an easy movie to enjoy because its hero is one we can identify with and get behind with ease.   De Niro undergoes the expected change of heart, but doesn't give speeches concerning his newfound friendship with Brashear.   When asked why he's helping Brashear regain his full duty status after losing his leg, Sunday explains, "to piss people off."   Men of Honor is a movie about a hero who otherwise may have remained among the anonymous members of the military whose service we take for granted.   The difference is how much more Brashear had to endure and overcome.