Review of Blood Diamond (2006) by Mimi S — 02 Jun 2014

I love Leonardo Di Caprio, need I say more? On a more serious note Blood Diamond is a powerful and extremely poignant drama about the Civil War in Sierra Leone with outstanding performances from it's leads. Blood Diamond centres around a South African, diamond smuggler, Danny Archer (Leonardo Di Caprio) and a fisherman, Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) who are a quest to find a rare pink diamond worth millions of dollars. Along the way they meet and seek the help of American journalist, Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly). Finding the diamond can give Vandy the chance to be reunited with and save his family who have been torn from him in the midst of the war.

Blood Diamond is a heavy and harrowing film and by no means a light and entertaining block buster. It portrays, quite brutally the horrors of the Civil War; villages being ravaged, children getting their arms cut on off and child soldiers who are brainwashed into becoming killing machines. The film keeps you on edge the whole time and there's more adrenaline than a Bond film. This isn't a film that I would usually go for, but the acting is phenomenal, the characters are believable and well developed and the context is real and touching. For those expecting a romance, there's not really one. Whilst there's immense chemistry and attraction between Danny and Maddy, neither on them really act on it during the film. Part of me thought it was a bit of a shame as a bit of a love story always easens up such a dark and distressing theme and especially as DiCaprio and Connelly have terrific chemistry so it would have worked and wouldn't have been cheesy and ridiculous like Pearl Harbour for example. I also thought that the film would focus more on friendship, especially between Danny and Vandy. Danny cares more about finding the diamond than helping Vandy, but towards the end they sort of strike up a tentative friendship. Danny is a complex character; you kind of dislike him because he's a shady crook, but there's some goodness in him.

Leonardo DiCaprio is amazing, as always and he pulls off the South African accent so well. In fact it suits him and makes him sound really sexy (I'm just biased). Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly also give strong performances. I found myself really sympathizing for and rooting for Vandy; I was like OMG I love him! The only thing that matters to him is his family and he goes to whatever lengths to save his family, especially his son who is a child soldier. The ending is really moving, I won't give it away, but it nearly made me cry and I'm not much of a crier. All in all Blood Diamond is a good film but a very daunting watch with many harrowing and upsetting scenes, which make it difficult to enjoy. I don't usually go for films with a tough and gritty historical context, especially when it involves war. Also there was so much going on and too much action. However like I mentioned Blood Diamond is a moving and powerful film with Oscar worthy performances. I was a bit disappointed with part of the ending (only Leo fans will understand).

Grade: B-.