Blood Diamond

Blood Diamond

This film is intense and sometimes very brutal in the way it portrays violence. However, with its important subject matter, the violence needs to been seen, because this stuff really does happen even today. And, I have to give credit to the filmmakers for not backing off and making a soft PG-13 movie. This is a hard R-rated movie. There are scenes that will make you go, “oh, shit.”

The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio (Di-CRAP-rio) and Djimon Hounsou. Djimon plays a man that looses contact with his family after rebels raid his village. He is forced into slave labor and discovers a huge diamond, which he hides from his overseers. Djimon does a convincing job playing an everyday man that gets caught up in the horrible war ripping his homeland apart.

DiCaprio plays a go between man that smuggles weapons and diamonds between countries. This is a character that can be both charming and ruthless at the same time. DiCaprio’s performance here is very good and probably one of his best to date. He’s a guy that’s given up and become jaded and mean. This is nice counter balance to Djimon’s idealist character.

And, this is probably one of the stronger points of the movie, character development. The plot isn’t necessarily all that compelling, it is merely a tool to show the way things were during the 90s in Africa. This is more of a character and visual piece with complex war scenes.

I like James Newton Howard as a composer, but his music in this film is a bit too Zimmer for me. I would have liked some stronger main themes that would have drawn the moviegoers in more.

Overall, it is an intense movie with a good message and good acting from its main stars. The movie does feel a little long, but I really don’t have a problem with that because it is a good movie.

Grade: B+

Nice shot