Diamonds are more valuable than human life!

Rating: 8/10 (25 April 2010)

The eye opening movie Blood Diamond, in my opinion, is a must see film. I could not help but to be amazed how Director Edward Zwick, brought to life the so real images of what it is like to live in Africa near the diamond mines. With the vivid imagery of the constant blood shedding, he gives us an insight on how worthless life could be when natural resources, such as, diamonds are being glorified in other regions of the world. It seems as though diamonds are more valuable than human's life. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Danny Archer, who is from Africa and is a confidant of Colonel Coetzee played by Arnold Vosloo. His life is on the line when a smuggling deal goes bad, and he is force to repay Colonel Coetzee. Danny's ticket to life is discovered through a local fisherman, known as, Solomon Vandy, played by Djimon Hounsou, who has one of the biggest diamond ever seen. Solomon, separated from his family in a brutal rebel invasion, was force to work as a miner. While working in the blood-infested diamond mine, he locates the rare diamond, and hides it underground, so no one would have access to it. Solomon's son Dia Vandy, played by Kagiso Kuypers, was also captured by the rebels. He was brainwashed, and forced to work as a child-soldier. His wife and two girls were detained, and held at the Tassin Refugee Camp.
This movie shows that an individual may appear to be a heartless human being from what has been instilled in them, but as Benjamin Kapanay said while talking to Danny," A person is inherently good, but can become corrupted by his surroundings." Three similar scenes that relates to this theme are when Captain Poison the commander of the mine looks at Solomon and said, "You think I am a devil, but it is only because I have lived in hell." Another insight was looking at the transformation of Dia Vandy. He was a typical child, full of life that enjoyed school and soccer. His father Solomon had hopes for his son to become a doctor. His hope was later shattered, when his son was kidnapped, and brainwashed to become a brutal killer. Dia, was given the new name, Bossman. He was told to erase any memory of his family, as his new family was now the RUF. His father in disbelieve of his son's transformation calls out to him while sneaking into the rebel's camp and was shock to discover his son's disapproval of him as he yelled, "stranger, enemy" as if they was no ties to him. Danny's mind was also altered, when he realized that the same government he served was no better than the rebels were. He becomes a diamond smuggler for Colonel Coestzee.
A few elements that captured my attention, was Danny's chain-smoking when he seemed to be annoyed, or in need of a stress reliever, similar to the the movie The Hurt Locker. Sergeant James seemed to smoke every chance he got, and carried a pack of cigarettes with him. Danny however, did not often carry cigarettes with him, but would ask just about everybody he met for a smoke, like he did his partner Cordell before launching a punch in his stomach, and one of the military soldiers.
There are a few film techniques, which Zwick used to bring this film to life. The two that caught my attention was the gun motif and the long-shot scenes. It seemed like everyone carried a gun, and most of the times the guns were noticeable as seen in the RUF camp. The boys carried guns at all times, as a sign of power, and demanded respect. Danny also carried a gun at all times, however, his was less noticeable, as seen in the scene when he went to visit Commander Zero, he pulls it from his back trousers and handed it to the soldier. I also noticed several long-shot scenes that showed beautiful sceneries in the distance, but in the mix of such a scenic place lies constant death and destruction. These long-shot scenes can be seen, as the plane flies across the green covered mountains and at the end of the movie while Danny sits on the hill taking to his friend on the phone he says," I am looking at an incredible view."
This movie is very graphic and can be very disturbing to watch, especially, seeing children stripped away from their childhood and innocence while brainwashed into becoming brutal soldiers, but overall a great action movie. This movie is a bit lengthy, but is worth every minute. It was interesting to see how a diamond makes its way to some of our local jewelry stores.