Jan 19, 2007 06:22 PM
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"I used to wonder if God could ever forgive us for what we do to each other. But then I realized God left this place a long time ago." While Blood Diamond does not offer the definitive answers to these questions, it asks them in some compelling and legitimate ways. “Blood Diamond” is set in 1999 in Sierra Leone, a country in the throes of civil war. The rebels are mining diamonds and selling them to fund their purchase of guns. These diamonds might be for sale at your mall. Zimbabwean Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a diamond middleman.
Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) is a good man. He is a poor fisherman with a wife and three children. Caught up in the bloody civil war, rebels take Solomon’s young son. His wife and children are sent to a refugee camp. He is forced into slave labor mining diamonds. His life collides with Archer’s when he finds a rare, 100-carat pink diamond and, risking death, buries it. When Archer hears about the rough stone, he joins up with Solomon – who only wants his family back. Archer wants to get out of the nasty business by selling the diamond.
Let’s face the facts: How is Solomon going to sell the stone without Archer’s help? Solomon knows that his son Dia’s fate is to become a child soldier and he uses his knowledge of where he buried the stone as leverage with Archer. They join forces to find Dia, the stone, and secure Solomon’s family release from the refugee camp. Archer meets Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly), an American journalist reporting on conflict diamonds. Maddy is quick to size up Archer as a major player in transporting diamonds from the rebels to Amsterdam.
Only with Maddy’s status as a journalist can Archer and Solomon navigate the dangerous rebel-held territory. Being on a Time magazine cover or on CNN seduces even the most cruel rebel leader. What is really compelling about “Blood Diamond” is DiCaprio’s outstanding performance and skillful African accent. He essays the character beautifully and seemingly effortlessly. His Archer is an unredemptive, experienced killer slogging through death for a small piece of rock with a big payoff. Hounsou has a riveting presence; when he is overcome with longing for his son, his grief and desire are palpable.
Connelly's Maddy is believable and magnetic and she wisely keeps her flirting to a minimum. But this is ultimately DiCaprio's movie, and he makes his conflicted Danny a near iconic anti-hero. He gives a masterful performance. He’s become a man’s man with a powerful on-screen presence. When the complexity of Blood Diamond's story and the breadth of its scope threaten to collapse the film, it is the force of the acting that keeps the viewer caught up in the momentum.
