Never has a long film seemed so short

Rating: 10/10 (12 December 2006)

I was a little caught off guard by the violence early in the film, however, the film manged to blend human interest, violence, and a great action adventure film, and turned it into the best, perhaps without a doubt, of the last half of the year. One thing that has gone unnoticed is Jennifer Connely's role, and she has turned in perhaps one of the her best performances ever, and she has this casual ease in which she plays Maggie Bowen. You can almost picture Jennifer in Bosnia, or a war torn country taking pictures.
The film is very frank about it's subject matter, one of which was how young children are brainwashed into being soldiers for the Diamond hunters. The scene in which the children are sent in to slaughter every man, woman and child in a nearby village is one of the most chilling scenes I've even seen. The way the children carry out the genocide with such robotic, cold manner was one of the first things I think about when I think of this film. especially Salomon's son. In a country marred with high school shootings and such plots, this was more impactive then the graphic scenes in which some people are either shot in the face, or have their arms cut off. Now that's powerful direction.
Powerful direction is why the films stays with you after you've seen it. Why some scenes still remain fresh days later. This is one film that everyone must go see. If anything, you'll never see a diamond commercial the same way again.