Blood Diamond

Edward Zwick is a first-rate director who enjoys making grand productions; however, despite the fact that his films are beautifully shot, well conceived and even well written, they usually end up as simply “good,” rather than “great.” In 1989 he made the brilliant civil war epic Glory, but has since gotten comfortable in the slightly better-than-average range of films like Legends of the Fall, The Siege and The Last Samurai. Blood Diamond finally brings him back to where he should be. It concerns the violence that surrounds the sale of African conflict diamonds, focusing on a man in Sierra Leone named Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) who, on a local dig, finds a rare pink diamond which he promptly buries before getting arrested. His son, meanwhile, has been captured and gradually transformed into a child soldier by local rebels. Vandy soon meets a Rhodesian diamond smuggler named Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) and the two form a shaky alliance. Archer will help Vandy find his son if Vandy will lead him to the location of the diamond. Also hovering about is an American journalist (Jennifer Connelly) who agrees to assist Archer in exchange for valuable information on the diamond trade. One of the film’s many strengths is the superb cinematography by Eduardo Serra (Girl with a Pearl Earring). The viewer is immersed into several hair-raising action scenes, each of them shot with such kinetic force that it’s impossible to remove yourself and feel like you are anywhere other than right in the thick of it. Both DiCaprio and Hounsou give tremendous performances, and thankfully Zwick never veers onto a romanticized, Hollywood-style path that has often plagued his previous films. He keeps everything grounded and real, so that when events escalate, it feels much more powerful. Blood Diamond is a film that fires on all cylinders.

Directed by Edward Zwick.
Written by Charles Leavitt.
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, Djimon Hounsou, Arnold Vosloo, David Harewood and Michael Sheen.

Rated R for strong violence and language. 150 min.

****½ so says The Fish