Eyes wide open

Rating: 8/10 (24 January 2007)

The title of this film, Blood Diamond refers to diamonds which are harvested, smuggled out of the country and then exchanged in order to fund the procurement of weapons used in Civil War. That, in essence, is what this movie is about. Set in Sierra Leone in the early 90's when rebels were running riot, people were massacred, young children were recruited as child soldiers and men were enslaved in order to work in the diamond mines, its a harsh and scary look at how many of us (inadvertantly) acquire our bling.
The story revolves around, and is mainly viewed through the eyes of actor Djimon Hounsou, who portrays Solomon Vandy, a fisherman whose family is broken apart by rebels who invade his village and takes him captive to work in the mines harvesting diamonds. Its while working here that he finds a large pink stone and instead of handing it to the smugglers, he hides it.
This is where our story kicks off, as it is through this action, we meet Danny Archer, a diamond-smuggler played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who, whilst in prison with Solomon, hears about the diamonds existence and is determined to have it in order to quit the business.
Our leading lady comes in the form of the lovely Jennifer Connelly who plays a journalist looking to expose the major players in the illegal diamond trade and hooks up with Solomon and Danny in order to find the diamond and use it to get Solomons family back. The film is told in just under two and a half hours of action packed, fast paced story-telling that ends on a somewhat predictable note.
Although DiCaprio's character is portrayed as being interested only in personal gain, and essentially not really concerned with Solomons family because he wants the diamond for himself, there were times when it wasn't clear to me if he really was a bad guy, or someone who did in fact have some good in him. I think in the end the viewer is left to make up his/her own mind as to what they think of him.
Leo's accent has also been a huge point of debate. Im South African and i was impressed with the accent. I don't think it was always consistent.. but as the movie progressed, strangely it became better as he went along. At times it is easy to pick up the American, sometimes British or even Australian tones, but mostly i was really impressed. Also, its interesting to note that South Africans must have one of the more difficult accents to pinpoint, because its really flat sounding.. almost guttural, much like German. SA has 11 official languages.. so you can imagine, like Americans, different provinces have different ways of pronouncing words. But the white Afrikaaner accent is a little more straightforward. I think he did a really great job.
I found this film to be brutal at times in the portrayal of rebel killings by young children who are 'brainwashed' to believe that they're serving their country. Harder still to swallow is the fact that its not fiction, its happened and is still happening all over Africa. For the few children who manage to get out of the life into which they were forced, the suicide rate is high as they cannot seem to cope with the reality of the horrific crimes they were made to commit. This is the real, deep, ugly, horrific existence for many people in poorer African nations.
This is possibly one of DiCaprio's best performances to date, but Djimon Hounsou stole the show with his emotional and courageous portrayal of a man trying to reunite his family. DiCaprio has certainly come a long way from his days as Jack Dawson in Titanic. He has finally matured into an excellent actor. Jennifer Connelly however, was really underused and her skill as an actress not really utilized fully.
Lastly, I'm a huge fan of Director and Producer Edward Zwick. He knows how to make wonderfully moving films. Like he did with the Last Samurai, this movie left me feeling moved. Quality film-making at its best! Lastly, this movie may be graphic, but its a great way to open your eyes to the realities of the world. Its gruesome got me thinking about a lot of things.