Last night I watched the video "Men of Honor," in which Cuba Gooding, Jr gives, what I felt was an outstanding performance . He portrays a master diver in the United States Navy, the first African American to achieve this high-ranking position. His character, Carl Brashear, shows us how many obstacles one can overcome (including racism and a crippling injury), and just how indomitable the human spirit can be. He shows us how one can do all this and achieve his life's dream and in doing so make military history! It is truly a remarkable movie that lifted my spirits!

The movie begins with Carl as a young boy talking with his dad while he is doing farmwork as a sharecropper. During the conversation, Carl's father told him that he hoped that Carl would make alot more of himself than his father had made of himself, that he wished for him to get a really good, prestigious, well-paying job,rather than a menial job in which he would have to live by the sweat of his brow.

When he becomes old enough, Carl decides to join the United States Naval Academy and he takes a liking for the diving division in which the Navy men have to salvage things like American ships and bombs and rescue people. As it turns out, he is rated the best swimmer and diver of all.

There is an important written exam that all navy men must pass in order to become divers. Carl needs help with the written exam and he enlists the aid of a young librarian named Joe to tutor him. Soon after he asks this young woman to marry him. They marry and have one son.

Things get rather precarious for Carl when he has to pass a diving exam in which he has to assemble a toolbar underwater and the base's racist commander (played by Hal Holbrook) gives horrible orders to Master Chief Billy Sunday Robert DeNiro) not to let Carl pass, no matter what. The master chief defies this order because it is unconscionable, therefore it is legally allowed to be disobeyed in the armed forces. He just could not do what the commander ordered him to do and this shows that Master Chief Sunday really is a good and fair human being. Carl surfaces from being underwater for more than five hours barely breathing and turning blue, but he has DONE IT! He has made a perfect assembly of the toolbar and he is now a United States Navy Master Diver.

Following this, things go along nicely for quite awhile, but then a dangerous mission comes along involving a Russian submarine. Carl is sent underwater to search for Russian ships and bombs. It turns out that in an amazing scene as a Russian submarine is heading toward him, he finds a Hydrogen bomb belonging to the United States Navy. As the bomb is being hoisted on board the ship, something goes horribly wrong, and Carl loses part of one leg when he saves fellow officers' lives by bravely pushing them out of the way as the bomb is flying toward them! His heroic deed saves mens' lives, but in doing so, Carl loses the use of one of his legs. He earns a very high honor for this brave act, but his future as a diver is very uncertain at this point.

Carl goes on to prove to the United States Navy that, once he is fitted with a prosthetic leg, that he can still dive. This is not an easy thing to prove to them, but like everything else he has done, Carl comes through with flying colors! This is truly an amazing movie that shows you just what a man can do when he puts his mind to it. I strongly suggest that everyone see this movie. It will make you feel SO GOOD!



Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older