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.

This film tells the story of two young men who are involved in the diamond trade, one willingly and the other one reluctantly.

"Blood Diamond"is a tough film to watch. There are many scenes portraying monstrous atrocities that are so disturbing. I can hardly believe that in some countries the political situation it's do unstable that people just drive around with machine guns, killing innocent citizens whenever they want to. The country and the economy cannot develop under those circumstances. It's horrifyingly sad to see such things happening, and it's even more sad to see such crimes against humanity is fuelled by people's demand for diamonds. Diamonds have such a noble image that no one could even imagine how dark the origin of the gem is.

The film is well made, the script is engaging and the pacing is tight. We see the two leads depending on each other to get what they wanted, and the ultimate sacrifice they have to make is shocking. "Blood Diamond" is a must watch for anyone with a heart.

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.

What does it take to turn someone into a killer? The answer is different for each character involved in this movie. For some it is survival. For others it is the hope of escape from a life of hell. For some it is family. For others it is greed. Caught in the middle of it all are the children who have such little desire to kill for any reason that they must be brainwashed into becoming the instruments of their masters who claim to offer freedom.

Every few years an action movie comes along that has amazing depth. Terminator 2 and The Matrix are such movies, and so is Blood Diamond. It is full of characterizations we've seen before, but it's the interaction that raises this film above the masses. Each character has an agenda that forces him or her to distrust everyone else. The paths that some relationships take to develop trust are believable, while others are equally believable in remaining eternally antagonistic. And through it all is the realization that while some characters may change their methodology and morals, none ever change their dreams. Each character fights for the goal to the bitter end. Such is human nature, and such is the conflict of Blood Diamond, the conflict of Africa. In the end, we are left to wonder if peace can ever be attained in such a world. And somehow we are left believing that maybe it can.

"Blood Diamond" is the kind of action film that makes you think that 'a moment of love, even in a bad man, can give meaning to a life...'

The film opens in Sierra Leone, 1999 when Civil war rages for control of the diamond fields…According to devastating reports, these stones are being used with both rebels and government forces to purchase more weapons and finance civil war…

Danny Archer—crazy for diamonds like everybody else—believes this pink gem holds his ticket out of this godforsaken continent… He is a smuggler, a former mercenary and weapons trader from Zimbabwe who bribes all, and supplies arms to both sides… He gets Solomon Vandy—captured by government troops—out of jail only because he overhears that the fisherman might have found a clear massive stone about the size of a bird's egg…

Vandy—forced apart from his family and sent off to work as a slave in the minefields—has hided the enormous 100 carat diamond from his captors and buried it in a secret place within the jungle… His son Dia is taking away by a brainwashing militia called the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) turning him with lies, drugs, and liquor, into a cold-blooded murderer…

Danny makes a deal to help the noble fisherman find his family if Vandy will lead him to the diamond… The majority of the story is their journey across the war torn country…

Leonard DiCaprio is both ruthless and charming as the cynical soldier of fortune who knows an opportunity when it presents itself… But he also is aggressive and selfish willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants… He illustrates the black side of the dirty diamond trade… On his trek to find the stone, Archer's eyes are opened to some enduring values that surpass his own self-profit…

Djimon Hounsou eventually realizes that Danny's connections and money are his only hope… He plays a helpless character totally passionate as the resolving and fiercely determined father desperate to learn the fate of his family…

Connelly is an idealist who wishes to display corruption… She thinks that with Archer's help she can get a unique story line surrounding the civil war but also revealing corporate malfeasance and cover-up behind the diamond trade…

It is also good to mention Arnold Vosloo in the role of Colonel Coetzee, head of the army unit also trying to claim the diamond… He's a great character actor and remains a powerful presence and one of the screen's most efficient scene-stealer…

Nominated for five Oscars, "Blood Diamond" is an action, political adventure at its best!