Bloody Overkill

Rating: 6/10 (11 December 2006)

It's hard to dismiss work by Di Caprio as something substandard, and Zwick has in previous occasions come up with work that transcends the physical and shows us what our spirit can achieve. There is plenty of good intentions in this film, and I'm glad it exposes something of the horrendous crimes that are seldom publicized for some of the peoples in Africa.
What I found disturbing in this film is the amount of violence that has somehow found its way to the final cut, and the problem with having too much in it is that it does result in a state of numbness. It's still horrible to watch as it is effectively portrayed in the film, and it hovers too closely to a caricature. "Hotel Rwanda" brought hell portrayed hell effectively, with enough shown to us so that we could understand the intensity of the tragedy. In here, hell is threatening to kill the heart of the film, as it becomes the central protagonist, keeping us from connecting to the human tragedy that is at the heart of the film.
Fortunately, we have an actor like Hinsou, who is able to show us how his soul is traumatized as he sees what goes around him, with his immediate family's situation and with the people who are dying and killing each other in front of him.
There are very powerful moments in this film, particularly the ones showing you the destruction of innocence, as children are brainwashed and indoctrinated into becoming monsters to serve a different type of regime. Sadly, even DiCaprio can't lift the film beyond an average level where machinery rules and the soul disappears behind the use of technology and special effects. He is much more effective showing us the turmoil in the soul of his character in "The Departed". In here the transformation from manipulator to benefactor rings a bit phony. It might not be his fault, but it might be the interpretation of a script that needed a little more work to expose this tragedy in a more impacting manner.
"Blood Diamond" is just too much of something... horrible and violent as it could be.