Blood Diamond Review - No Real Spoilers

[dinopoker]

"In America, it's bling bling. But out here it's bling bang."



I haven't posted a review here before, but this movie is so good I had to share it with 2+2. I've seen it four times since it opened, and I loved every minute of the movie each time.

The movie is a sort of Raiders of the Lost Ark or Romancing the Stone but told believably. Djimon Hounsou plays a poor fisherman named Soloman Vandy from a village in Seirra Leone whose village is raided by the Revolutionary United Front during the 1999 civil war. The RUF scatters his family and captures him, forcing him to work in the diamond mines. Diamonds, it seems are mined to get money to buy weapons to finance their civil war and the RUF uses slave labor in their camps for this purpose. While working in the mine, Vandy finds a 'pink' or a 100ct diamond. He manages to hide it just before government forces overrun the camp and take all the inhabitants to jail.

While in jail, he comes to the attention of Denny Archer, a former Rhodesian mercenary who has become a dimaond smuggler, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who has been arrested for smuggling. Archer immediately realizes the potential value of such a stone and needs to partner up with Vandy to get it back from its hiding place and sell it. This in and of itself is no mean feat, because Vandy is far more interested in getting his family back than he is in the diamond, and before anything else happens, Archer must help him with that and earn his trust (or con him into his trust, anyways).

To do so, Archer enlists the aid of American journalist Maddie Bowan, played by Jennifer Connely. She has been sent to Sierra Leone to cover the civil war and the diamond trade and recognizes Archer as a priceless source of information for her story. Together, they must find Vandy's family and then find the stone, and somehow get it out of the country and sell it. None of this is an easy trick in a country at war and with various other interested parties aware of the stone and trying to get it for themselves. The diamond is an ulimate hot potato because anyone who learns of it is going to kill whomever it takes to get it

Along the way, each of the three protagonists have their own personal enemies to fight, with Archer's being his former mercenary commander, Colonel Korso, who, in addition to being a diamond purchaser, runs a private paramilitary army that is ultimately used against the RUF, and who knows about the stone. Vandy, meanwhile, must deal with the most ruthless enemy ever seen in Captain Poison (played with particular menace by David Harewood) who also knows about the stone, and knows just how to get it. Connelly's Bowan, meanwhile, is fighting her own battle against, well, Africa itself, as the tremendous suffering of the continent and the world's apathy towards it frustrate her no end and cause her a lot of internal turmoil.

That's the basic story, but suffice it to say that the movie is a real rollercoaster that takes you from one struggle to the next all the while explaining the real truth about the dimaond trade and the so-called 'blood diamonds' from conflict zones like Sierra Leone. The movie is dircted by Edward Zwick, who also made 'The Last Samurai' and if you liked that movie, you'll love this one. He shows some pretty intense action scenes and never lets up on the thrills, but the scenes are shot without a shred of campyness or unbelievability. We see real violence infilicted by real bad guys on real victims, and it's quite a thing to see. The movie flows perfectly, and everything from its premise to its plot to its final climax are filmed with perfection both of direction and script.

With all that said, the thing that really nails this picture is DiCaprio, who as far as I'm concerned totally steals the show, and is even better here than in The Departed. His character of Denny Archer is a total 100% badass throughout, who has little regard for anything but himself and whatever it takes to accomplish his objective, just as you would expect from someone with his history. He's still DiCaprio, so you have trouble hating him, which I think he wanted us to, but you come very close. You're for sure not toally rooting for him. Meanwhile, others have complained that he missed the accent, but in my opinion he totally nailed it, and many of the best scenes are with him letting loose the character and explaining things from his perspective, which is so different from our North American one, and the patterns of speech and expressions he used were totally South African and 100% realistic. I think maybe another actor would have made it easier to dislike his character, but I don't think another could have pulled off the conflict the character goes through, that of a man who is desperate to get out of the dunghole he was born and raised in, but who remains quite aware that he isn't doing the right thing as he shamelessly uses people and circumstances to achieve that end.

All in all, the movie is outstanding, and I think you'll do yourself a favor by watching it. There's a heavy dose of politics in it, by the way, especially about the diamond trade, but this is fairly presented, and quite accurate. Besides, without the diamond trade, you wouldn't have the movie, so it needed to be discussed. None of the politics takes away from the overall movie, though, and a lot of it is worth knowing, so there you go. I also happen to think that it's maybe a couple of scenes too long but this is only a small point. I would easily give it a 9 or a 9.5 rating out of 10.

T.I.A

[troymclur]

excellent review. I heard some complaints that the movie was preachy. Is this true, at all?

[andyfox]

Yes, it is preachy, but I would argue that we Americans need to be preached to. A friend of miine who has traveled exgtensively in Africa told me he thought the depiction of conditions there was on the mark.

I found the movie contrived in that I knew the ending as about a half an hour after the movie started. It is also too long at 2-1/2 hours. DiCaprio is good and Hounsou is astoundingly good. Corny ending, for me, and Jennifer Connelly is just a bad actress, IMHO, but it was entertaining and informative. Some parts are violent enough to be hard to watch, but that's the point, I think.

Burn! and The Constant Gardener were also, IMO, very good depictions of the tragedy of Africa. DiCaprio, for me, was more effective in The Departed than in Blood Diamond.

Certainly worth seeing.

[Moneyline]

Almost invariably if a dramatic film on its initial theatrical run gets bathed with praise on this forum, it ends up being a film that I hate. I don't usually share my opinion on these films, at least not on this forum, because I don't want to be known as the poster who [censored]s on every film that people like. Regardless, I'll share my opinion on BLOOD DIAMOND because I actually liked this one, even though I think it is highly flawed and far from a great piece of cinema.

BLOOD DIAMOND works best when it is in adventure-yarn mode. The action set-pieces are bloody, unflinching, and highly effective. These scenes would be great if they existed in a vacuum, but are even more powerful because the characters have been built up well. I think most of the credit for this belongs to the actors, in particular Leonardo DiCaprio who has reeled off yet another in a string of great performances.

As well as the action and suspense scenes are done, BLOOD DIAMOND goes astray whenever it tries to be serious. For a film with such lofty ambitions the screenwriting gets terribly lazy around the dramatic moments. The dialogue isn't so much preachy as it is pointless. Throughout the movie characters who have lived their entire lives in a warzone feel compelled to explain to one another a very generalized overview of the events that are taking place in the warzone. Of course, this sort of conversation would never take place in real life, and exist in the film only to inform the audience in a very dumbed-down manner what is going on in the movie. The action and suspense scenes do such a fantastic job of showing what was happening in Sierra Leone at that time, that there's no need for this clumsy dialogue to tell the audience what they are seeing.

Probably the most egregious example of the poor writing is when <font color="red">***MILD SPOILER*** Solomon Vandy, one of the main characters, locates his family in a refugee camp. This character's entire motivation throughout the movie is to find his family, so when he's told by the government that he won't be allowed to reunite with his family inside the camp that's a pretty important moment, right? Wrong. At least, according to the filmmakers it isn't. The family sees each other for the first time in years, and then we cut to Vandy looking sad on a plane, while another character explains to the audience, under the guise of the characters having a conversation, why he isn't with his family. ***END SPOILER*** </font> The irony of this is that there are a number of totally useless dramatic scenes in the movie that almost certainly should have been cut out, while this important scene is completely missing.

I want to reiterate that the lazy script doesn't ruin the film. Once the film goes back to being an action/suspense film things get rolling again. Overall I'd recommend this movie, but I don't think it is nearly as strong as some may make it out to be.

[dinopoker]

I agree it was a bit preachy, but I also agree that we could use the education. That said, I found myself agreeing more with Archer's point of view more than the so-called 'good' point of view of the Connelly's character, but maybe I'm just a cynic too.

Meanwhile, I don't see how you couldn't like the ending. I thought the very last scene was unecessary but all the rest, man that was great.

[dinopoker]

[ QUOTE ]
Almost invariably if a dramatic film on its initial theatrical run gets bathed with praise on this forum, it ends up being a film that I hate. I don't usually share my opinion on these films, at least not on this forum, because I don't want to be known as the poster who [censored]s on every film that people like. Regardless, I'll share my opinion on BLOOD DIAMOND because I actually liked this one, even though I think it is highly flawed and far from a great piece of cinema.

BLOOD DIAMOND works best when it is in adventure-yarn mode. The action set-pieces are bloody, unflinching, and highly effective. These scenes would be great if they existed in a vacuum, but are even more powerful because the characters have been built up well. I think most of the credit for this belongs to the actors, in particular Leonardo DiCaprio who has reeled off yet another in a string of great performances.

As well as the action and suspense scenes are done, BLOOD DIAMOND goes astray whenever it tries to be serious. For a film with such lofty ambitions the screenwriting gets terribly lazy around the dramatic moments. The dialogue isn't so much preachy as it is pointless. Throughout the movie characters who have lived their entire lives in a warzone feel compelled to explain to one another a very generalized overview of the events that are taking place in the warzone. Of course, this sort of conversation would never take place in real life, and exist in the film only to inform the audience in a very dumbed-down manner what is going on in the movie. The action and suspense scenes do such a fantastic job of showing what was happening in Sierra Leone at that time, that there's no need for this clumsy dialogue to tell the audience what they are seeing.

Probably the most egregious example of the poor writing is when <font color="red">***MILD SPOILER*** Solomon Vandy, one of the main characters, locates his family in a refugee camp. This character's entire motivation throughout the movie is to find his family, so when he's told by the government that he won't be allowed to reunite with his family inside the camp that's a pretty important moment, right? Wrong. At least, according to the filmmakers it isn't. The family sees each other for the first time in years, and then we cut to Vandy looking sad on a plane, while another character explains to the audience, under the guise of the characters having a conversation, why he isn't with his family. ***END SPOILER*** </font> The irony of this is that there are a number of totally useless dramatic scenes in the movie that almost certainly should have been cut out, while this important scene is completely missing.

I want to reiterate that the lazy script doesn't ruin the film. Once the film goes back to being an action/suspense film things get rolling again. Overall I'd recommend this movie, but I don't think it is nearly as strong as some may make it out to be.

[/ QUOTE ]

Pretty solid points, and I agree with you. Still, from my point of view the rest of the movie made up for the flaws.

[Wynton]

I appreciate the effort of the review, but can't agree.
I saw it over the weekend and considered it pretty average, honestly. The political backdrop was interesting and I thought the acting was solid. But there were moments when the writing made me cringe. Some of the dialogue sounded kind of silly to me. And there were a few too many "Hollywood moments," which I don't detail here out of fear of spoiling.

[Blarg]

Thanks for the review and subsequent comments. I find it hard to get into anything with Dicaprio, but I keep on trying. This is such good subject matter that I'll try again. We should have movies -- or even news articles and programs -- on stuff like this far, far, more often instead of the usual shyte.

[Rick Nebiolo]

[ QUOTE ]
Yes, it is preachy, but I would argue that we Americans need to be preached to. A friend of miine who has traveled exgtensively in Africa told me he thought the depiction of conditions there was on the mark.

[/ QUOTE ]
If Americans need to be preached to it perhaps should be to put a little less emphasis on the accumulation of "bling". You and your friend JR might think I'm a natty dresser (for a poker player I guess) but I've never worn jewelry or understood its attraction.


[ QUOTE ]
I found the movie contrived in that I knew the ending as about a half an hour after the movie started. It is also too long at 2-1/2 hours. DiCaprio is good and Hounsou is astoundingly good.

[/ QUOTE ]
I didn't know enough about the diamond trade to have a feel for the ending. Agree both actors were very good. DiCaprio gets more impressive with each role, he's proving to be one of the most versatile actors around and has certainly shed the pretty boy image. I thought his accent and manner of speaking was very good (at least compared to some South African poker players I know).



[ QUOTE ]
"Corny ending, for me, and Jennifer Connelly is just a bad actress, IMHO, but it was entertaining and informative." Some parts are violent enough to be hard to watch, but that's the point, I think.

[/ QUOTE ]
I thought JC was OK, just not as good as the others. The ending could have stoped short of the last scene.

My only problem with the movie was that it seemed a lot of people went to a lot of trouble for what amounted to one big diamond. Is a 100 carat diamond that the Honsou character only had a glimpse of worth that much? The various armies must have spent five million on ammo and weapons just chasing that one stupid stone. That I didn't get.

~ Rick

[andyfox]

By the ending being predictable, I meant that the seemingly immoral scoundrel suddenly finds a heart and perishes doing the right thing. And the boy is back with his father and they live happily ever after.

I found an article on the internet about a 100 carat yellow diamond. It was said to be worth $27.5 million:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20...nt_5363841.htm

The one in the movie was pink, which is apparently very rare. http://www.pinkdiamonds.co.uk/. From my brief googling I would guess a 100 carat pink diamond could be worth about $100,000,000.

I think Leo is a fine actor. I was impressed with him as far back as This Boy's Life. Also, watch The Aviator again. While Blanchett and Alda have the showier roles, and Scorsese's over-the-top direction eclipses everyone, DiCpario really holds the picture together and is very good. He's really, IMO, superb in The Departed.

I see that Martin Scorsese will team up with DiCaprio again in The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, with Leo playing TR.