Blood Diamond

“Blood Diamond,” an exceptionally foolish thriller starring the extraordinary Leonardo DiCaprio, involves the story of illicitly mined diamond that have been used to fund some of the most venomous wars in Africa. Mr. DiCaprio plays Danny Archer, a Rhodesian-born diamond smuggler who, having been orphaned during his native country’s violent struggles in the 1970s, has spent most of his 30-some years traversing the continent as a soldier of fortune. Tousled and tanned, with a long, slicing style and a killer smile, This being an Edward Zwick film, it’s no surprise that redemption is on the menu. Danny is initially on the side of the evils, and when we first meet him in 1999 he is trying to cross the border of a perilously unstable Sierra Leone with a pile of diamonds pushed into some goats. Busted by a patrol from Sierra Leone, he lands in jail, where he soon hears of a precious pink diamond unearthed by a fisherman turned unwilling miner, Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou). Solomon hopes to reunite with his wife and three children, from whom he has been violently separated; Danny just wants a score big enough to pay his way permanently out of Africa. But Blood Diamond falls annoyingly short of greatness in its final hour, partly because of an abundance of subplots. Alongside Solomon and Archer, Zwick introduces journalist Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly), an uncompromising war reporter just in from Afghanistan, who looks to Archer to help her find the professional criminals in the diamond trade. Though her acting is faultless, Connelly’s presence leads to a romance that, however discreet, simply stocks up trouble for later, requiring redemption and emotional closure on an already boiled climax. On top of that, add an unnecessary political framing device, and what begins as a tough, risk-taking thriller winds down to become a familiar Hollywood triumph-over-adversity story. It’s a heartbreaker. After feeling so much danger, it’s a shame to leave the cinema on a note so safe.
Overall, Leonardo DiCaprio, perhaps because he knows that much of the audience crawls into his pocket, and perfectly plays the character of the smuggler, given his extraordinary reputation in such roles from films such as ‘ catch me if you can.’ Moreover, if films were evaluated merely by their good intentions, this one would be best in show. Instead, gilded in money and dripping with sanctimony, confused and mindlessly inconsistent, the film is a textbook example of how easily commercialism can undermine a humanitarian cause, particularly in Hollywood.

Source: Youtube, IMDB