Character Strength

Rating: 8/10 (10 March 2007)

I've never been over this but there's what's powerful and will never be other thing, without mattering how much violence it shows; and there's what's powerful because we're obliged to think it is and because violence simply never stops. In the first category we find "Hotel Rwanda", a film that didn't need visual violence to get to the viewer; in the second category, Edward Zwick's "Blood Diamond" is a perfect fit.
It is undoubtedly a strong film, but it is supposed to be because of the amount of violence in it. Like in "Hotel Rwanda", the rebel army of a location (Sierra Leone here) is killing everyone, so Zwick and his team go over the streets and generate a frightening environment with explosions, brutal killings and of course gun shots everywhere. However, the strength within "Blood Diamond" doesn't come from its images, or at least that's what I think.
It doesn't come from its story either. C. Gaby Mitchell and Charles Leavitt came up with the story for the movie; then Leavitt, writer of a very good film called "K-Pax", worked on the screenplay. There's a problem today with films that try to deal with recent issues: most of the time they don't get it right. I didn't like "Children of men" because I think it lost its way; I liked "The Constant Gardener" even when I thought it didn't have its problematic all that clear. "Blood Diamond" tries to be interesting in terms of its story; Zwick tries, but he doesn't get there.
In Leavitt's tale about conflict diamonds and illegal smugglers, anyone could say that they don't understand the issue completely (even when they try) but that they find the story really interesting and entertaining, which is true. We want to be a part of the issue and be interested about it and we are in part, when we get lost in the jungle with Zwick's flawless technical team, with a lot of experts in action and war films. A very special mention to James Newton Howard's touching score, with the kids singing and the strings reaching to the heart. The man should've won an Oscar by now.
But then again, "Blood Diamond" is not a war film when there's a lot of war in it. I would dare to say it isn't even an action film because people is always escaping from the action. So where does its strength come from? The answer is from the characters and their personal story, which is really close to a dramatic event. And that's Leavitt and Zwick's greatest achievement; telling that story with compassion and shooting it with care.
The story is about Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), an African man who, like many others, has lost his family. He hides a big and soft and rare diamond in the mines; Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), a smuggler, wants it, so he contacts Solomon and promises him to get his family back in exchange of the diamond. He will do this with the help of Maddy (Jennifer Connelly), a journalist who needs Danny's smuggling facts to write a story that will bring the real issue of the film (the market of conflict diamonds) to light.
It's amazing how Djimon Hounsou always seems to be playing the same role but gets a different approach every time and amazes again. His emotional range here is admirable and it's not clear to me that he's been nominated for an Academy Award two times when he probably should have been nominated for "Gladiator" and won; but that was Benicio Del Toro's year.
It's true: DiCaprio isn't perfect here. It's also true that he was nominated for the wrong movie (just watch him in "The Departed") this year. His time will come, but we can't deny his South African accent is great and that he delivers a performance that goes all the way, playing a cold man we shouldn't empathize with, but we do. Most of the times we like the main character, whether he is good or bad. Here, the fact that we like Danny Archer is more because of DiCaprio than because of the story.
What Jennifer Conelly does is very brave. She has been choosing the right roles since "A Beautiful Mind" and here she goes right into the jungle and her merit is that she appears to be just another normal human being. She's beautiful and you don't even notice her. She tries to bring the part of the issue to life and we care even when, as I said, we don't totally get it. But "Blood Diamond" is a very good film, better than "The Constant Gardener" and way better than "Children of Men". If you don't relate with the issue, you will find the characters interesting. Watch it; you won't regret it.