Friendship, Love, and Human Ambition

Rating: 9/10 (27 May 2007)

This movie has a lot of good points behind it. However, one in particular that was obviously noticeable was the political message: conflict diamonds. Of course that seemed to be the major motif in the film. However, I saw it differently. This movie seemed to be a movie about love, friendship, and human ambition with the political message as it's catalyst.
Love is the connection between Danny and Maddy. Clearly, these two fell for each by the time Danny left her to go with Soloman after the diamonds, and at the end when Danny says "I'm really glad I met you" and Maddy responds "I'm really glad I met you too" they clearly wanted to say "I love you" but, Archer is a man that tries not to feel so he couldn't say it. Mr. Zwick may not have gone into a great deal of detail with their love however it is greatly performed by DiCaprio and Connelly when they are on screen together and you can really sense their loss when Maddy walks off to go into the plane. Zwick also seemed to take a different direction with the love also: NO SEX SCENE. That is truly amazing given the fact that Hollywood usually finds a way nowadays to sneak in sex scene, but not this one. So props to this movie for not doing it.
Another motif is that of friendship. Danny and Soloman seem to have a connection between them in the fact that they are both providing services for each other to get what they both want. However, it is clear by the end of the movie Danny and Soloman become more than just associates - they become friends; cherished friends. Enough to the point that Danny gives up his life for Soloman and his son. Even though Danny wouldn't say it, he did it for them; the diamond was just his bonus. However, and tragically, his bonus was also his ambition. Ambition is a big theme in anybody's life - however it cannot become your whole life, like it did Danny's. And that is ultimately what lead Danny to his death.
So watch and enjoy this movie. Not because of the mediocre political message, but because of it's accurate display of Friendship, love, and Human ambition - and how they all coincide, and how they can all make or break one's life. This is truly an excellent film with excellent character development and excellent relationship displays. Blood Diamond is a classic, and deserves to be treated as such. Get it into the top 250.