Blood Diamond

I have not been a Leonardo DiCaprio fan. I do like Djimon Hounsou and have seen several of his films. Watching this film, I have to say that both deserve every single award they received and should have probably gotten every award they were nominated for. I only hesitate to state this unequivocally because I have not seen The Last King of Scotland yet.

This story needed to be told and I cannot imagine anyone telling it better that DiCaprio and Hounsou in the extremely capable hands of Edward Zwick, working with an outstanding script by Charles Leavitt.

The story was tender, exciting, awesome, and, at times, just plain disgusting. The fact that there are countries that brainwash children and turn them against their parents and make killers out of them is inexcusable. The fact that these people are operating today is a blot of shame on all so-called civilized nations, including my own.

This is our homeland. All humans came from this soil. What we allow to happen there in the name of beauty is disgusting.

I cannot imagine anyone not owning this movie so as to watch it many times and remind ourselves that if we are not part of the solution to this problem, we share some of the blame for it.

An undeniably powerful and breathtaking film from talented director Edward Zwick. 'Blood Diamond' is a beautifully shot war thriller set against the backdrop of the Sierra Leone civil war, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou in their Oscar-nominated roles. By far one of the best war dramas of modern times, 'Blood Diamond' is a powerful testament in the film industry boasting intense and well-executed action scenes and heart-wrenching drama. Zwick's vision truly outpaces his narrative in this compulsive and thought-provoking tale. An exciting and compelling tale, that stand as a great acting showcase for the two leads.

In Sierra Leone, there exists diamonds worth a fair amount of money. But they are harvested by slaves and sold to fund genocide. This is the story of one of those slaves, a diamond smuggler (with connections to Belgium, England, And Liberia) and a journalist. Together, they will fight to win a story, a diamond and a family. But sacrifices will be made.

We have an amazing cast, so let me just get them out of the way -- Leonardo DiCaprio as smuggler Danny Archer, Djimon Hounsou as native African Solomon Vandy and Jennifer Connelly as journalist Maddy Bowen. DiCaprio rarely makes bad films, and my unending praise for Connelly is seen in a variety of reviews I've written... this film will be no exception to her glowing track record.

This film has action, suspense and a good story to tell. Like "The Insider" (or whatever the tobacco movie is called), this exposes how diamonds come to be on the market. I'd like to say things have improved since the time period shown here (1990s) but I don't know if I believe that. I appreciate the honest portrayal here, not shying away from the violence or the horrible conditions the children go through. Humor is absent, and even romance (which would be so easy to add in) is never at the front of the story.

I don't know how to sell this film other than that: if you care about world events, or care about the fate of innocent people ,you'll care about this movie. Even if you don't want this to be that heavy and just take it as entertainment (which it is on some levels), I think you'll still enjoy it (Jennifer Connelly!). Wish I could say more, but it's a cut and dry case: great movie, worth seeing, check it out.

Leonardo DiCaprio has become one of the premiere American actors. With a set of natural instincts that lends a non-showy, believable quality to all of his performances, versatility, and movie star size charisma that fills up the screen and emotionally hooks the viewer into his character and story, it is hard to think of another male American actor (with the exception of Johnny Depp) who is consistently giving an audience its money worth; these two gentleman have taken the reins from Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, as those two Oscar-winning future legends of the silver screen gracefully age into more mature roles.

In Blood Diamond, it is Mr. DiCaprio's performance that raises this film above it's standard Hollywood fare of a script (although it is a solid script) into something memorable. His performance here as an opportunistic diamond smuggler equals that of the one he gave earlier in the fall as "Billy Costigan" in The Departed, although the two characters couldn't be more different from each other. It may be his best performance yet, and in terms of sheer charisma and memorability it certainly rivals his mega-star making performance as "Jack Dawson" in Titanic.

I liked Blood Diamond a great deal, but do not think it is a great film. A good movie? Yes. Very mainstream and formulaic, but it is raised up quite a bit by DiCaprio's character and his terrific realization of it. If I had read this script beforehand, I never would have thought of Leo for this role- possibly George Clooney or some other star known for "roguish charm," but not Leo. But now, having seen it, I can't imagine anybody else as "Danny Archer;" it is a fully realized, winning performance.

Mr. Hounsou was wonderful as well, and I liked the chemistry between the two men in their scenes together. He was able to make the audience feel the gamut of emotions his character experiences during the course of the movie- pride and hope, fear, outrage, resignation, mistrust, desperation, and determination, and beautifully rises above the somewhat limiting way his role was written.

I thought Ms. Connelly did as good a job as possible in her role as "the idealistic journalist who wants to make a difference." Her part was just a larger version of Joaquin Phoenix's in Hotel Rwanda. As always, I find she brings a certain dignity and intelligence to her performances and does not allow her incredible beauty to overshadow her acting. I thought she and Leo worked wonderfully together, as well, and along with Mr. Hounsou they make an engaging trio you can't help rooting for.

In comparing it to other recent films about Africa, I didn't think this was quite as good as as Hotel Rwanda, but better than The Interpreter, The Constant Gardener, and The Last King of Scotland. I felt an emotional engagement with the characters I didn't experience in the latter three films. I found the script allowed my care for the characters to grow as the story progressed, and was not overly manipulative. At times it veered too much into standard action movie territory, with much violence and many "close calls" but would then be brought back into the realm of compelling human drama by a wonderfully acted, intimate scene.

After reading some early negative comments, I was pleasantly surprised at my response to it. Compelling characters and the skillful use of a truly gripping global issue as the plot line make this a satisfying viewing experience- one that I would happily see again.

Because I lived in Sierra Leone, in fact in Kono, the diamond-mining area of the country, for three years, I had to see Blood Diamond as soon as it came out. It is an excellent movie. Although it was not filmed in Sierra Leone, it captures the reality of the country to a remarkable degree. There is a great deal of violence in this movie, but that violence is organic, realistic, fitting to what happened there. They even manage to convey the fact that the people are as astonished by this violence as we are; Sierra Leone used to be one of the safest countries in the world. The movie tells the facts about conflict diamonds quickly and accurately. DiCaprio's performance is impressive, certainly the best by him I've ever seen: he is totally believable as a white African. Jennifer Connelly's role is much smaller but she makes the most of it. Djiman Housou has enormous physical presence as the brave Mende fisherman. This movie just gets so many things right that the few places it departs from reality are entirely forgivable. I would heartily recommend this movie to everyone; it is the best Hollywood movie I've seen in years.