Director: Edward Zwick
Story: Charles Leavitt
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Connelly
Music: James Newton Howard
Time: 143 minutes
Bottom-line: Terrific performances by DiCaprio and Hounsou and a realistic story make even a boring film interesting to watch.
DiCaprio, fresh after the success of The Departed, stars in Blood Diamond, along Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly. Released about five years after the Sierra Leone war, this film tells the story of the life of one particular worker in a diamond mine, during the war. Edward Zwick also shows the atrocities that happened during the five-year war, that make the film realistic.
In 1999, Sierra Leone is terrorized by many groups, including the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). One fisherman, Solomon Vandy (Hounsou), after being separated from his family, is forced to work in a diamond mine, supervised by Captain Poison (David Harewood). Meanwhile, Danny Archer (DiCaprio), a white-Zimbabwean diamond smuggler is arrested while trying to take diamonds illegally into Liberia.
One evening, Solomon finds an enormous pink diamond buried in the mud. He buries it secretly, but is caught by Poison. But, government security forces raid the area, and both men are arrested and taken to the same prison as Archer. Hearing about the diamond, Archer gets Solomon released. Archer approaches Solomon and cuts a deal: he asks Solomon to tell him the location of the diamond in exchange of his family. Solomon reluctantly agrees. With the help of a reporter, Maddy Bowen (Connelly), Archer proceeds to help Solomon recover his family. Whether or not Solomon finds his family, and whether Archer finds the diamond or not forms the rest of the film. As the film proceeds, we see that all the humans change their nature in want of the diamond.
This film portrays many of the violent deeds that happened during the war, including forced labour, making children into child soldiers, chopping off of hands and mass murdering of people. Archer also mentions how ‘blood diamonds’ or diamonds obtained from Africa to profit warlords, are obtained and sold along with other normal diamonds. An actual meeting that took place at Kimberly, South Africa, in 2000, is shown at the end, which aims to prevent sale of blood diamonds.
Zwick shows how simple the Africans are: children are somehow becoming soldiers because of gifts offered; Solomon readily becomes Archer’s friend because of the deal, not knowing which way it will go. The story also shows the typical human greed. Archer, Poison, and certain other characters in the film don’t care about Solomon’s family; they just want the diamond no matter what, whereas, in contrast, the simple-minded Solomon does not want the diamond, but is ready to do anything for his family.
The main strengths are the acting performances by both the leads: DiCaprio and Hounsou. Hounsou expresses sadness, happiness and anger very well, and DiCaprio displays many emotions, and has spoken with an excellent Rhodesian accent. Jennifer Connelly also plays a good role. The camera work is very good: war scenes and violence have been shown in such a way that it they are not too bloody, but violent enough to make the viewers also feel the horror that happened in Africa. So, don’t be shocked at the violence: this is almost like a true story.
The negative factors start with the way the story has been told. It displays events in a sort of broken chain. Every now and then you see an attack by RUF or some other group, then suddenly you see Archer or Solomon somewhere else, carrying on their hunt for the diamond. Another drawback is that the story is told in a boring way, in my opinion. Some scenes could have been or cut, or some flow could have been created to make it more interesting. Repeated violent scenes make the film kind of slow.
Yet, the fine performances by DiCaprio and Hounsou overcome these drawbacks. The portrayal of the violent acts during the war makes it more realistic and interesting. This is not the usual type of thriller, but a war thriller that also gives a message about the poor condition of African workers and a message on human greed. To all those who said that DiCaprio is a bad actor, this film may change your mind. Blood Diamond is the magnum opus of both DiCaprio and Hounsou (in terms of their acting), in my opinion.
My Rating: 4.5/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 62%
Story: Charles LeavittCast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Connelly
Music: James Newton Howard
Time: 143 minutes
Bottom-line: Terrific performances by DiCaprio and Hounsou and a realistic story make even a boring film interesting to watch.
DiCaprio, fresh after the success of The Departed, stars in Blood Diamond, along Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly. Released about five years after the Sierra Leone war, this film tells the story of the life of one particular worker in a diamond mine, during the war. Edward Zwick also shows the atrocities that happened during the five-year war, that make the film realistic.
In 1999, Sierra Leone is terrorized by many groups, including the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). One fisherman, Solomon Vandy (Hounsou), after being separated from his family, is forced to work in a diamond mine, supervised by Captain Poison (David Harewood). Meanwhile, Danny Archer (DiCaprio), a white-Zimbabwean diamond smuggler is arrested while trying to take diamonds illegally into Liberia.
One evening, Solomon finds an enormous pink diamond buried in the mud. He buries it secretly, but is caught by Poison. But, government security forces raid the area, and both men are arrested and taken to the same prison as Archer. Hearing about the diamond, Archer gets Solomon released. Archer approaches Solomon and cuts a deal: he asks Solomon to tell him the location of the diamond in exchange of his family. Solomon reluctantly agrees. With the help of a reporter, Maddy Bowen (Connelly), Archer proceeds to help Solomon recover his family. Whether or not Solomon finds his family, and whether Archer finds the diamond or not forms the rest of the film. As the film proceeds, we see that all the humans change their nature in want of the diamond.
 |
| DiCaprio as Danny Archer and Hounsou as Vandy |
This film portrays many of the violent deeds that happened during the war, including forced labour, making children into child soldiers, chopping off of hands and mass murdering of people. Archer also mentions how ‘blood diamonds’ or diamonds obtained from Africa to profit warlords, are obtained and sold along with other normal diamonds. An actual meeting that took place at Kimberly, South Africa, in 2000, is shown at the end, which aims to prevent sale of blood diamonds.
Zwick shows how simple the Africans are: children are somehow becoming soldiers because of gifts offered; Solomon readily becomes Archer’s friend because of the deal, not knowing which way it will go. The story also shows the typical human greed. Archer, Poison, and certain other characters in the film don’t care about Solomon’s family; they just want the diamond no matter what, whereas, in contrast, the simple-minded Solomon does not want the diamond, but is ready to do anything for his family.
 |
| Connelly as Maddy Bowen |
The main strengths are the acting performances by both the leads: DiCaprio and Hounsou. Hounsou expresses sadness, happiness and anger very well, and DiCaprio displays many emotions, and has spoken with an excellent Rhodesian accent. Jennifer Connelly also plays a good role. The camera work is very good: war scenes and violence have been shown in such a way that it they are not too bloody, but violent enough to make the viewers also feel the horror that happened in Africa. So, don’t be shocked at the violence: this is almost like a true story.
The negative factors start with the way the story has been told. It displays events in a sort of broken chain. Every now and then you see an attack by RUF or some other group, then suddenly you see Archer or Solomon somewhere else, carrying on their hunt for the diamond. Another drawback is that the story is told in a boring way, in my opinion. Some scenes could have been or cut, or some flow could have been created to make it more interesting. Repeated violent scenes make the film kind of slow.
Yet, the fine performances by DiCaprio and Hounsou overcome these drawbacks. The portrayal of the violent acts during the war makes it more realistic and interesting. This is not the usual type of thriller, but a war thriller that also gives a message about the poor condition of African workers and a message on human greed. To all those who said that DiCaprio is a bad actor, this film may change your mind. Blood Diamond is the magnum opus of both DiCaprio and Hounsou (in terms of their acting), in my opinion.
My Rating: 4.5/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 62%
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