Blood Diamond - movie review

I don't think I can write a review about this film without being completely honest - I love Leonardo DiCaprio. Always have. Continue to do so. I think the guy is a great actor and after The Departed he has shown some genuine grit that will hopefully propel him into the next phase of his career. Enter Blood Diamond and DiCaprio brings the manly. He shows up in Africa with his stubble and accent and shows everyone that the boy has grown and you should pay attention. The fact that he is doing this in a bullet-riddled, polictially-tinged action film about conflict diamonds may be the best setting of all.

Diamond takes three stories and cuts them together in an exciting and illuminating tale about the diamond trade. Djimon Hounsou plays a family man struggling to protect his family in a war-torn environment and the threat of rebel militia. Jennifer Connelly (rocking her amazing hair and eyes) is a journalist travelling the country in an attempt to find the "truth" about the gems. And DiCaprio arrives on the scene as a smuggler with less-than-honorable intentions. Thus, with the victim, the profiteer and the observer in place the movie is prime to explore the topic from all angles. After Hounsou is forced into a diamond labour camp (his family in a refugee camp and his son captured for the child's army) he discovers an especially large specimen. And so the game of hide-and-seek begins to recover the diamond with all sides using each other to get there first. An alliance between the three main characters if eventually achieved and motives are exposed.

Where Diamond excels is in its balance. It manages to be political yet entertaining. It mixes mainstream action with disturbing commentary (the scenes of the child army are particularly impressive). It offers romantic possibility and eventual comraderie. It provides for greed and for grace. And it illustrates the loss that supports luxury. It is unlikely that anyone will leave Diamond without having something to think about. And in the world of action-adventure that is an impressive thing.