Blood Diamond

Writer: Charles Leavitt
Director: Edward Zwick
Director of Photography: Eduardo Serra
Editor: Steven Rosenblum
Composer: James Newton Howard
Lead Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Connelly
Year: 2007

Blood Diamond concerns the shady history of the diamond trade in Africa and the atrocities that accompany it. Trust me, you'll never think of diamonds in the same way again.

Danny Archer, played by DiCaprio, smuggles diamonds primarily for his own monetary gain. When he runs into a native fisherman named Solomon Vandy (Hounsou), who’s life and family has been torn apart by the warring in his country. Solomon’s primary mission is to recover his family, and could care less about the uber-valuable diamond he has found. Although the two men need each other to accomplish their ends, their motivations clash. Then throw in the perspective of a road weary and discouraged journalist looking for a story (Jennifer’s character), and you have a 3 strand cord that is not easily broken, although the tension is high.

Ed Zwick is a master of a director. Although he does have a thing for messy, intense violence. I always wonder if he doesn’t go overboard, and if he did in any of his films, it would be this one. It is indeed an impressive thing to choreograph. Having never been in the midst of a war, I don’t know if what I’m looking at is realistic. Seeing the amount of bullets being fired, it’s amazing they are able to escape!

Somehow, despite the confusion of the action, Zwick always manages to gain his footing and refocus on why all the mayhem is there. The direction consistently comes back to the heart of people’s motivation, or un-motivation, which is what make stories like this meaningful and interesting.

I love the way Djimon Honsou acts in this film. He's more mature than Gladiator yet still very unpretentious in his style. You can tell that he his directed, but in I kind of like that. The way he delivers his lines and actions is fresh and meaningful.

If there someone on the other end of the spectrum than Djimon it would be DiCaprio. The guy is super confident in his approach, yet is very good and can make that work. His character also calls for a kind of recklessness, which is no doubt why he was casted. If you can see him past the smoke, he’s one committed actor. As the smoke lifts at the end of the film, he becomes an even likeable character, if not under slightly contrived circumstances.

In perhaps one of her most well cast roles, Jennifer Connelly is convincing as a strong-willed journalist.

What is it about black antagonists that is so eerily scary? My oh my, I would be put under a spell just acting along side some of these guys, let alone actually dealing with their characters in real life.

Besides being an epic film, blood diamond is an interesting history, and quite sad, of diamonds. When one realizes the blood shed for these gems, he may not feel super great about buying one. Some diamonds come at a price in more ways than monetarily. There is a very interesting and informative documentary in the special features about how the diamond market works, or doesn't work. In fact, the black market is apparently still thriving.