Below is a mixture of reviews edited by me along with my thoughts on the film “Blood Diamond” because I couldn’t have phrased things any better than what these reviewers already did.

I never thought I’d ever like a movie with DiCaprio in it. Not until I watched this movie and seen his brilliant performance in it. I liked Blood Diamond so much I watched on DVD 3 times in row!!! When I first heard of this film I was expecting your standard innocent Westerners trapped in war torn Africa but the movie was much more than that and much better than that too. It’s easily one of the best movies I’ve ever seen in my life and I’m not exaggerating.

Don’t be fooled by the official trailer up there. Only crappy movies get good trailers, you know.
To sum it up, Blood Diamond is a combination of an action flick, a rescue mission and political issues all woven together to make a truly captivating and heart wrenching story. Leonardo DiCaprio gives a great performance *deserving his Oscar nomation for it* as Danny Archer, a diamond smuggler who, due to certain circumstances, forcibly teams up with the villager Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) in a harsh quest to recover a rare large pink diamond buried by Vandy behind rebel lines. Both men seek the diamond for different reasons but are forced to work together.
Jennifer Connelly was also pretty great in this movie as reporter Maddy Bowen trying to uncover proof of the connection between the atrocities of conflict diamonds in war-torn Africa and the mainstream diamond industry outside of the continent.

What made this movie so moving to me is knowing that this isn’t an entirely fictional story. It’s based on the real horrors of the Sierra Leone conflict and it is also a reminder of the current conflict in those regions. The events surrounding Vandy and his family especially his son were very heart wrenching; even more to know that such events are still taking place on a daily basis in certain parts of the world. Not that we ever hear about such events on the news. Connelly had a pretty striking line when they arrived at the refugee camp: “This is what a million people looks like, although you won’t see it on CNN.”

In addition to being a great action/adventure/character flick, this movie had an important message to tell about conflict diamonds. I was glad that the movie didn’t beat us over the head with that message; but on the other hand, I feel like maybe it should have. What is it going to take for society to finally get the message and take a firm stand against such atrocities? My heart sank a little in my chest when Vandy asked Bowen “after you write about us, your country will come to help us, right?” I knew the answer before Bowen even spoke it: “probably not.”

Yes, this film has a reasonably happy ending and some resolution for all concerned. What it does not have is any fear of covering it’s subject matter. Blood Diamond is brutally honest in it’s coverage of the troubles in Africa and the Western consumer’s role in them.

The atrocities on display in this film, while only moderately graphic, are utterly harrowing. To see groups of children mutilated, families slaughtered and the remaining youngsters hered away and brainwashed into cold blooded rebel killing machines, is at the very least heartbreaking. At worst it makes you ashamed and angry of the lifestyle we all lead.

In one significant scene the film takes great pains to remind us that the word infantry literally means child soldier, and as a young boy coldly shoots the faith-filled social worker who tells us this, we are told that there is no place for hope and idealism here. This is Africa.

Blood Diamond is a movie with a message, and a conscience. It is made to tell us that bad things are happening, and not only do we largely ignore these bad things, but indirectly we contribute to them.
It concludes with hope, but then again, as I said, it’s a movie. In reality the troubles do not end when the credits role, and it makes sure we know it. It does not preach. It is not trying to necessarily make us feel guilty but director Edward Zwick wants us to feel something.

As a movie carrying the heavy weight of a dark and important subject matter on it’s shoulders Blood Diamond is a huge success.
As a story and a film set against this terrible backdrop Blood Diamond is even more of a triumph; fascinating, emotional, exciting, beautiful and communicated perfectly by it’s two outstanding male leads.

Everyone should see this film so make sure you watch it too if you haven’t yet.

p.s.:
Make sure you get it’s soundtrack by James Newton Howard. It has some amazing tracks that’ll always remind you of your favorite moments of this film.

And on an unrelated note, here is a small art update for today.

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