Important and accessible edutainment

Rating: 8/10 (24 January 2007)

This wonderfully made dramatic adventure manages to be both a powerful, solid Hollywood process and an inspirational, compassionate piece of proactive film-making at the same time, a feat one must not take for granted. Especially for the nearly two and a half hour running time, Blood Diamond remained exciting and engaging throughout, anchored by a sensitively developed moral curve, rendering the picture far more resonant than the action-induced frenzy much of it seems to be. Much of these battle intensive scenes, recreating the civil war hell taking place throughout this movie's well-pieced plot dealing with diamond smuggling in 1999 Sierra Leone, does become somewhat repetitious and overwhelmed in brutal violence, but to it's credit never becomes overtly sensational, instead continually presenting a horribly realistic backdrop of the downward hell much of a country torn apart by strife turns to.
In the spirit of this compassionate work, Charles Leavitt's unpretentious script services the plight of these characters quite admirably, directed by seasoned vet Edward Zwick without the strain of artistic clout that usually prevents great work from becoming greater. The result is a movie experience as thrillingly entertaining as it is universally and profoundly engaging, no easy feat in our Hollywood markets; hats off to Zwick, Dicaprio and the rest who knew they were contributing to this important statement.
The hot topic debate of Dicaprio's authenticity with his South African accent seems to me a bitter point to argue about. This is certainly one of the best roles he has been in for some time, surpassing even the tense performance he delivered in his other critical darling The Departed. What his accent may miss in getting every subtle intonation correct, he makes up with in a fiery, naturalistic turn that is helping restore my faith in his abilities as it once was when he was young. I felt that, more then butchering any sort of accent, if Dicaprio was guilty of anything it was inflicting too many generic mannerisms at the end of sentences and the like, a small complaint in an admirable and invigorating turn. For it's brilliant synthesis of entertainment, education and inspiration, it is easy to look past any faults Blood Diamond may harbor in it's earnest grip around your heart, making this the most sincere blockbuster of 2006.