Blood Diamond Review! Really Gets To You Right In The Gut!

I caught up on Blood Diamond on a rerun on HBO. I never got around to visiting the theater to catch up on this one and incidentally even remember renting the DVD, but never got around to watching it either, so I am glad HBO aired it and I got to catch up on it on a rerun. It is a very good movie and a must watch, but don’t expect to feel good after you are through with it. Blood Diamond is a movie that will hit you right in the gut and then some more. Honestly! The only thing is that it being a movie, the aftereffects will not last long and we will continue on with your lives as though nothing ever happened even though the movie itself is based on real life and real life situations in Africa.

Blood Diamond is set in Africa and deals with the struggle for existence of the African people and how they are oppressed and taken advantage of down throughout history all because of the abundant natural resources their continent has been endowed with. It has ranged from ivory, oil, gold and Blood Diamond specifically deals with the illegal mining, smuggling, and trading of diamonds. The main protagonist is Djimon Hounsou, a fisherman whose life is torn apart when rebels storm his village and he is kidnapped to work in a diamond mine. During the melee his family makes good their escape, but Djimon Hounsou ends up at a diamond mine where he finds a huge pink diamond. The government troops attack at that very instant so Djimon Hounsou manages to hide the pink diamond and is then captured along with all the other rebels and prisoners and put in prison. Here he meets Leonardo DiCaprio, a white boy from Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), who is a soldier of fortune and is involved in diamond smuggling for financing the military operations of Arnold Vosloo a colonel. Leonardo DiCaprio ends up in jail when caught while smuggling diamonds across the border of Liberian and is put in the same prison where Djimon Hounsou finds himself. At the prison Leonardo DiCaprio finds out about this huge pink diamond found and hidden by Djimon Hounsou and from then on it’s all about finding the pink diamond and getting out of the “God forsaken” continent of Africa. Others like Arnold Vosloo have their own agenda of using the diamond to finance their war, but everyone is out for the pink diamond.

Into this premise is also thrown in Jennifer Connelly who plays a reporter wanting to write about the illegal diamond trade that is going on in Africa and how its people are being tortured and oppressed for the same. Being a reporter she has access to a lot of strings she can pull and she reaches an agreement with Leonardo DiCaprio to help him find the diamond and in return he will give her the story she can print about the illegal diamond smuggling trade with proof in terms of buyers, middlemen, sellers, corporations, documents, bank statements, etc. Jennifer Connelly plays an idealist who believes a lot of people will stop buying diamonds if they found out that it cost someone in Africa their hand so that it could be worn on their fingers for their weddings and engagements. The movie unfolds with Leonardo DiCaprio in his quests for the pink diamond, Djimon Hounsou needs to help Leonardo DiCaprio so he can be reunited with his family, and Leonardo DiCaprio needs to help Jennifer Connelly with her story so that she will pull the necessary strings so that Djimon Hounsou is reunited with his missing family. Of course all of this is tied in to the bloody pink diamond and we even have others like the rebels and the government armies fighting it out for the pink diamond.

Coming to the performances, well Leonardo DiCaprio is Leonardo DiCaprio and he ups his ante in Blood Diamond. He is perfect for the part, playing the selfish soldier of fortune with an ease and stagger that fits in perfectly. Djimon Hounsou evokes sympathy as the wronged father out in search of his missing family. The extremely beautiful Jennifer Connelly plays down her part and does a commendable job as the conscious stricken reporter who wants to draw the world’s attention to the problems persisting in Africa. The action is fast, but extremely brutal and we are shown an Africa that cameras seldom capture, shots filled with pain, suffering, lack, hunger, strife, mutilated limbs, and just about everything else that a human being can do to another human in an evil way. Blood Diamond is a brutal movie that will grab you by your throat and force you to think and even act if it gets to you that much. The movie ends like all Hollywood movies, with justice being served, Jennifer Connelly getting her story, Djimon Hounsou getting back with his family and getting to share his story with the rest of the world, and Leonardo DiCaprio finally having a change of heart and losing his life at the end of it all. A truly good movie, Blood Diamond is not to be missed and even if it does not spark any change in us, it is still worth a look at least for its power to tug at your heart strings. Not to be missed! 

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