Blood Diamond (2006)

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER

This film is part-story and part-sermon, and the sermon is better than the story. Some parts are exclusively sermon such as the screen messages at the beginning and the end or the moralistic pontifications of the committee that deliberates on the diamond trade. In terms of length, most of the film consists of the story of a young soldier of fortune turned diamond smuggler, but the basic moral has been enunciated so clearly at the start that nothing in the tale of Danny Solomon and Maddy can be understood as independent of it, and that is all to the good.

Far and away the best things are the horrific sequences of civil war in Sierra Leone, and I have not yet seen a TV documentary on this topic that equals them for sheer impact. The scene where the captives' hands are lopped off spares us the ultimate in realism thank goodness, but nobody is likely to have forgotten it even two hours later when we are told that this barbarity was first introduced into Africa by King Leopold's colonial regime in the Belgian Congo. The sequences featuring the abduction and drilling of the boy revolutionaries have a chilling quality to them that probably comes mainly from a sense that this is how it happened in reality, and I wonder what it was that makes the acting so good in these ghastly vignettes, on the part of the youngsters as well as of the adults. Having encountered nothing that equals this film as a visual reconstruction of the civil war in Sierra Leone my mind reverted to the brief but indelible account of the matter given by Col Tim Collins in his memoir Rules of Engagement. This is of course a factual record, and what sticks in the reader's memory is the surrealistic irrationality of it all, with the insurgents drunk or stoned. In the film the revolutionary commander is at least rational, so for all the power of the enactment it seems that we are again being spared the ultimate worst.

According to the film, the war is about the wealth from diamonds, one rider on the general theorem that wars in Africa are about the ownership of the national resources of each locality. The `blood' theme is symbolised by the pink colour of the giant diamond at the centre of the story, and also by the pale blood of the goat into whose back some smuggled diamonds have been sewn in an early incident, but of course this is only an artistic embellishment to the literal scenes of blood. An action-story is stitched on to the basic backdrop, and in some ways it is a good one. Where the film seems a bit uncertain of itself is to what extent this is a `straight' action yarn and to what extent a parable.

The early episodes featuring Di Caprio and the other principals are not good at all. They are rather old-fashioned 50's-style stuff, very `acted' with stilted one-liners. Di Caprio does his best with encounters in which he sees off a crazed revolutionary and later some border guards with some dreary tough-guy posturing, seemingly able to command any situation by sheer personal presence and interminable repetitions of `huh?' Bogey might have carried it off, but not Di Caprio, and we could at least have done with some memorable phrases, of which I heard none. Things improve gradually, and although the dialogue between Leonardo and Jennifer Connelly is very average it at least makes a bit of a human being, as opposed to a B-movie stiff, out of Danny. The sermon element actually helps, with both of them recounting the grisly experiences of their parents in their respective previous conflicts. The actor who brings the story aspect of the film to life is neither of these but Djimon Hounsou as Solomon, and progressively Di Caprio seems to catch acting off him. In the end I carried away the feeling that Di Caprio represented the story element and Hounsou the `moral' element, the paradox of this being that Hounsou was far more dramatic and convincing. Indeed, in a film whose strength lies basically in its documentary and realistic dimension, the most devastating shot, for me, was of Solomon's bestial roar of rage as he deals out death with his shovel.

The ending is a bit of a tear-jerker, but in fact I did not mind that since the film as a whole is a slightly uneasy mixture of different elements - it might as well end this way as any other way. Danny's fate left my eyes dry, Solomon ends up as the hero and rightly so. It all comes back to the diamond trade and the human beings (for want of a better expression) who operate it. One touch that I welcomed near the end was the brief cameo part for Michael Sheen doing his Tony Blair voice as a diamond dealer, and I wonder which film came first, this one or The Queen. The world of the diamond merchants does not interact much with the hell that their trade creates in Africa. Sierra Leone was at `peace' the last I heard, but we know better by now than to rely on that for long. There are currently storms on the world financial scene, and when those occur the best place to find stability is in, say, gold, or, indeed, diamonds. July 24, 2008

WOW! Africa exposed! Finally!

Great story, great acting, superb director, unbeatable (for once)historic accuracy! this is the way movies handling conflict zones should be made!
My highest regards and compliments to the director, the producers, the cast and the staff!!


July 16, 2008

Good movie for a political cause

Surprisingly good movie. Decaprio played the part well and Jennifer Connelly had a movie she actually had to act in. Obviously the movie was for a political cause - not supporting diamond smugglers because of the atrocities they commit. And thats not a bad thing for Hollywood to do as long as their up front about it like this. July 14, 2008

Nice and Safe Subject....

I enjoyed this movie alot but it seems that they picked a nice safe topic to rant about. Diamonds? I suppose that they are being used to fund those various brush wars in Africa. I did like how they also brought up the topic of child soldiers.

What I didn't like was how they seemed to blame the west for much of the strife in Africa. We buy the diamonds. We arm them (never mind the AK's). Etc. Yet at some point, don't they have to take responsibility for their future? July 4, 2008

Powerful and Unforgettable

I may be alone here, but this is really one of the best films of 2006. Loads of action, bits of melodrama, and amazing performances from Djimon Hounsou as Solomon Vandy and especially Leonardo DiCaprio as smuggler Danny Archer. This is the kind of role DiCaprio needed to prove his talent.

As usual with Zwick films, there just isn't enough time for him to tell the tale he is supposed to tell. The film would be better if only a little longer. Instead, much of the intended plot is drowned out by the action (which is still impressive). And, in order to give the impression of how Africans were victimized, the screenwriters chose to make Solomon and his family the victims of nearly everything that befalls many African citizens: slavery, child abduction, exile. The movie does get a little preachy, but not so much that it overwhelms the viewer.

In spite of its faults, Blood Diamond is powerful and unforgettable, a movie to watch again and again for its pulse-pounding action, unbelievably talented performances, and important look at a more recent dark part of African history. July 1, 2008

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