All Carl Brashear ever wanted was to become a Navy diver.

Carl had to over come enormous odds.

He was a poor sharecropper's son with a Grade 7 education.

He was also African American and it was 1948 when he joined the Navy. That was the year President Harry S. Truman desegregated the American military --- in principle.

Brashear's story has become the compelling and inspirational Men of Honor which is so much more than An Officer and a Diver or Rocky of the Seas, though it contains elements of both.

Like most enlisted men of colour, Carl (Cuba Gooding Jr.) was made a cook but he soon showed his commanding officers he was an amazing swimmer and a determined young man.

His skills and determination brought him to the Navy Dive School in Bayonne, N.J., and under the command of Billy Sunday (Robert De Niro) a celebrated Master Chief Navy Diver.

The scenes of Carl's training do echo those in An Officer in a Gentleman, because it is such a gruelling course.

Carl had the added burden of overcoming the kind of hateful prejudice.

In the first third of the film, Gooding focuses on Brashear's enthusiasm and spirit, both of which Sunday vowed to break. De Niro makes Sunday a roaring, granite-faced bigot offering little subtlety in his performance.

It is in the second third that De Niro and Gooding begin exploring the shadings of their characters. Sunday became a self-destructive alcoholic and Brashear a successful diver and contented family man.

The final third plays like A Few Good Men as Sunday and Brashear go to the highest military court to prevent a racist, ageist officer (David Conrad) from forcing Brashear into early retirement.

If Men of Honor were just a compelling true story, it would be reason to embrace it. But it is much more.

From its writing through its direction, Men of Honor is solid filmmaking.

It is also a film where several of the supporting performances, especially those from Michael Rapaport, Charlize Theron, Hal Holbrook and Conrad are as memorable as those of the stars.

Director George Tillman Jr.'s underwater rescue sequences are harrowing and the dramatic scenes ring with truth.

There's no question Men of Honor is manipulative, but allow yourself to be swept up in it and you can't help but cheer Brashear on every step of the way.

(This film is rated AA)

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