Gripping and Informative Story With Interesting Characters

Rating: 10/10 (1 September 2007)

Blood Diamond is a very moving film. The story will grip you from the very first moment and drag you on one intense ride. You want action? You got it. You want romance? Check. You want complex characters and great acting? It's here. You want to learn something about the real illegal diamond trade that exists in Africa? Well, you got it and you'll be wiser to what a diamond really may stand for.
Zwick's direction is superb. He gets the most out of his actors, he chooses the most beautiful and the most ugly locations, and he tells this story in a way that draws you in as if you are in the throes of hypnosis. I thought Leonardo Dicaprio's best performance to date might have been The Departed. Not so. He is just as good, if not better, in Blood Diamond. High marks also go to Djimon Hounsou and youngster Kagiso Kuypers.
And although there is less screen time for the romance between Jennifer Connolly and Dicaprio, it is every bit as intense as the one you witness in Titanic. This movie may make you think twice about buying a diamond. For me, I'll still buy them, but I will have greater appreciation for what they symbolize. Rating 10 of 10 stars.