Carl Brashear (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) is a former farm worker who joins the U.S. Navy after World War II and dreams of becoming the first black U.S. Navy diver, in a time when racial discrimination is an accepted part of American society. Leslie Sunday (Robert De Niro) is the Navy diving school’s head trainer, under orders from his commanding officer to prevent Brashear from graduating at all costs. At first, Sunday carries out his orders with conviction. He bombards Brashear with terrible insults to break his spirit; he deliberately undermines the black man’s training to make him fall behind his fellow diving students. But when he realizes that these tactics only strengthen Brashear’s resolve even more, Sunday begins to transform from enemy to mentor and ally.

Sunday’s transformation reaches a dramatic climax when Brashear, already in service as a salvage diver and gaining the necessary experience to become Master Diver, loses his leg in a work-related accident and gets discharged from active duty. Refusing to let anything stand in the way of his dream, he battles the entire U.S. Navy bureaucracy to regain full active status—no longer alone, but with his trainer by his side.

Based on real-life events, “Men of Honor” (directed by George Tillman, Jr.) is a gripping story of human determination at its most powerful—where an iron will succeeds not only in conquering all obstacles, both natural and man-made; but more importantly in earning the respect, admiration and loyalty of even the most stubborn foe.

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