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Blood DiamondSo I finally got a chance to see this movie today. I was curious about it when it initially came out but didn't have an opportunity. It makes a very compelling case against conflict diamonds and really all diamonds. The story and acting are good but this movie is far from flawless. The pace and the action are great and really bring you into the violent world of Sierra Leone at this time and it's hard to not be rattled by the tough imagery that's throughout it. There is very little opportunity for humanity in this movie as the people in it (all of them) seem so overwhelmed with trying to survive and avoid the chaos of the civil war around them that they hardly have time for what might resemble a quiet moment to connect. I think it's not crazy to call this a buddy movie although the buddies really don't seem to like each other or trust each other but they're allies that need each other and do eventually seem to form a bond.Leonardo DiCaprio plays Danny Archer the main character who is a diamond smuggler. He actually smuggles guns into Sierra Leone and then diamonds out to neighboring Liberia where they can be sold and mixed with the rest of the diamonds of the world avoiding the perception that they're coming from war torn Sierra Leone. DiCaprio does a great job of wearing his roles lately. His performance reminded me a lot of how well he played things in Catch Me If You Can where he seems to slip in and out of personas almost every 10 minutes. Part of this seems to be an innate confidence and part seems to be something different. He does a good job evolving this character from a heartless smuggler to one who we eventually do come to care about as he develops a tiny sliver of decency. Djimon Hounsou plays Solomon Vandy a man captured from his home by the Revolutionary United Front and forced to work sifting through muddy river water looking for diamonds. He finds one, a really big one and the quest to get it and his family out of Sierra Leone is the main story here. Jennifer Connelly plays Maddy Bowen an attractive American journalist in Sierra Leone after assignments in Afganistan and elsewhere trying to chase the one great story that will put her on the journalism map. In one pivotal scene Archer and Bowen are exchanging heated words. She is convinced that he is going to steal the diamond from Vandy and seems upset that she's been dragged into participating in the very atrocities she was trying to expose. Archer turns the tables on her and points out that they are all using each other. She is using Archer for her story, Archer is using Vandy for his diamond and Vandy is using both for their help getting him and his family to safety. It left me with a strange ambiguous feeling of wondering if these people were really any better than the rebels and corrupt army that they are running from for the bulk of the movie. Hounsou does an amazing portrayal of a man at his absolute wits end trying to do anything and everything to save his family. He remains true to his goal and seems genuinely uninterested in the diamond for anything but it's potential to reunite his family. At the center of the conflict (but far from the true danger) is the fictitious diamond company Van De Kaap that seems like a pretty blatant reference to De Beers. They stockpile diamonds to artificially keep the price high, they buy diamonds they know to be blood diamonds and just do everything possible to avoid being caught and to keep their stranglehold on the market. Having bought a diamond or two myself over the years, I was concerned and looked into purchasing stones from Canada where the industry prides itself on its conflict and blood free mining operations. They charge a premium for this assurance however and that makes me wonder if they're truly concerned at all about the human rights aspect or if they like so many others are just capitalizing off of the blood of others indirectly. They like the rest of the diamond industry keep the prices high and provide an incentive for others in war torn areas to kill over and for these stones. I wonder if the only real answer is to do our part to eliminate the demand and just stop buying these things all together. Posted on Thu Jan 3rd, 2008 07:07 AM | ||
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