Blood Diamond (2006)
The next time I purchase a diamond I’ll definitely be asking where it came from. After watching Blood Diamond (2006) you’ll be outraged, or maybe baffled by how messed up our world can sometimes be.
I wasn’t expecting a lot from Edward Zwick’s film about conflict diamonds. The reviews have been decent but this film isn’t on any top 10 lists that I’ve seen. I was very impressed.
Leonardo DiCaprio isn’t my favourite actor by a long shot but his portrayal of a diamond smuggler is first rate. His African (Rhodesian?) accent is interesting and by the end of the film I was sympathetic to his character — the mark of a fine acting performance to me.
In David Denby’s review of Blood Diamond for the New Yorker he says,
Africa breaks your heart—that’s the simplest and most persistent emotion that bursts out of such recent films as “Hotel Rwanda,†“The Constant Gardener,†“The Last King of Scotland,†and, now, “Blood Diamond,†the best and most enjoyable of this cycle of movies set against the background of civil wars, ethnic conflict, and Western meddling and exploitation.
I couldn’t agree more. The violence in this film is sobering in a Private Ryan sort of way. The injustice and brutality will anger you. This isn’t a torture scene from a James Bond film in which you can laugh. This is real, or as real as you can get by going to the cineplex to be entertained.
The worst part about Blood Diamond is knowing that we’d still rather watch the sports or weather report on CNN instead of a story on Sierra Leone. It’s disturbing when we’re confronted with the evil that exists in Africa. Who wants to hear about genocide, hunger or devastation?
Some people think that its wrong to package this type of evil into a film and sell it as entertainment. If it raises awareness then I think it is a good thing. If you enjoy a ‘movie with a message’ then you’ll be impressed with Blood Diamond. You might even be moved enough to try and make a difference. 
Films are rated from 1 to 4 stars.
Posted in Movie Reviews at 11:03 PM
