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| Cast and Credits |
| Cast: |
Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Connelly, James Purefoy, Arnold Vosloo, Stephen Collins, Michael Sheen |
| Director: |
Edward Zwick |
| Writer: |
Edward Zwick, Marshall Herskovitz |
| Rating: |
Rated R for strong violence and language. |
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Reviewed By: Brendan Cullin
Rating: 9/10
In "Blood Diamond", we get to see the various parties involved in the sale of "conflict diamonds" in the country of Sierra Leone. The diamonds are mined by ruthless, murderous rebels who kidnap and torture innocent villagers, force them to mine for the diamonds and through various transactions, middle men and third parties, the diamonds end up in the hands of wealthy jewellers with their expensive suits and their big, white, pearly smiles. What the people buying the lovely rings and the beautiful necklaces don't know is that the money used to pay for the diamonds has been ending up in the hands of these rebels to buy guns. And these guns are being used to kill villagers, capture children, torture men and women and force millions of people to flee their homes and seek safey in refugee camps.
In the middle of all this violence and murder, "Blood Diamond" tells us the story of Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), a fisherman, a husband and the father of three children. Solomon has been kidnapped and is being forced to pan for diamonds when he happens upon a huge, rare pink diamond that is apparently worth millions of dollars to someone in this world. Solomon manages to hide the diamond and through a series of fortunate and unfortunate events, he meets up with a former mercenary and current diamond smuggler named Danny Archer (Leonard DiCaprio), who promises Solomon he will find his family if he leads him to the pink diamond. So off go Danny and Solomon to find the missing family and eventually the rare diamond but in order to get this done, they must enlist the help of Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly). Maddy is an investigative journalist who agrees to help the men in exchange for inside information on the blood diamond trade in Sierra Leone. Maddy plans on writing a piece that will expose the men with the big smiles and the nice suits for the weasels that they really are.
Blood Diamond is a brutally violent and shockingly eye-opening movie. It is one of the best movies I have seen this year. The acting in this movie is Oscar-worthy. DiCaprio and Hounsou are both simply outstanding and will get some serious hardware consideration. The story is enthralling and the action is intense. If watching this movie doesn't get the old blood boiling then something ain't right. It's just one of those movies that makes you wonder how this sort of stuff can be going on in the world in this day and age. I guess when there's no oil involved some countries choose to just turn a blind eye. I mean really, what difference do a few million refugees and thousands, if not millions of innocent murdered Africans make? I suppose without all this violence and murder, the world's upper crust wouldn't be able to show up to things like the Academy Awards with their $300,000 necklaces wrapped around their necks.
I was recently reading an article about "Blood Diamond" saying that anyone who sees this movie should feel guilty after watching it. I can tell you one thing - I didn't feel one ounce of guilt. Anger? Yeah, a bit. Sorrow? Definitely. But no guilt. I've just never got the whole jewellery thing. Hell, I don't even own a watch. I just never got the fascination with expensive watches, necklaces, rings and what not. Any time I watch those "Entertainment Tonight" shows or whatever it is, and they're talkng about Jennifer Lopez and her million dollar diamond necklace, it's always makes me kind of sick. Not really because I thought people were dying to get the necklace around her neck but because she was walking around with something on her neck that was worth enough money that could feed 500 starving familes for a year. Yes, I realize I might be a hypocrite. Maybe this $20 Gap t-shirt I'm wearing was sewn by an 8-year old Chinese girl making $2 a day. I don't know. I do know, however, that I will probably never look at diamonds the same way. And if I ever do get married, any future wife better prepare for a ring from my local bubble gum machine. Which means I will probably be single for a very, very long time.
Nevertheless, take my word for it when I tell you that "Blood Diamond" is one of the finest movies you will see this year. It's a real eye opener and, without a doubt, a good indication as to what is going on in many third world countries on this planet. And I'm not just talking about conflict diamonds. I'm sure there's plenty more going on that we will never know about or that we choose to ignore.
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