Noble effort with mixed results

Rating: 5/10 (12 December 2006)

BLOOD DIAMOND (2006) ** Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Connelly, Kagiso Kuypers, Arnold Vosloo, Antony Coleman, Bneu Mabhena, Anointing Lukola, David Harewood, Basil Wallace, Jimi Mistry, Michael Sheen, Stephen Collins. Based on the South African accounts of harvesting diamonds that have been known to finance wars (hence the title), a former soldier of fortune (DiCaprio) reluctantly agrees to help a fellow countryman (Hounsou) find his family after being torn asunder and forced to dig for diamonds by marauding groups of brute force, when a sizable jewel is uncovered proving to be their ticket for salvation. Although a noble effort is undertaken by all involved the funereal pacing and repeat of action sequence  lengthy speech by main character  action sequence etc. taxes the nerves and the fact that Hounsou is reduced to a howling, righteously angry man is getting to be a sad indictment for this otherwise excellent actor's skills. Connelly is miscast as an American journalist who has the misfortune for one of the worst scenes in the film : facing certain death she asks her would-be assassins if it is OK to take their photos (!) (Dir: Edward Zwick)