Politically charged action thriller

Rating: 7/10 (26 April 2007)

*Note: This review contains a SPOILER. Not a very big one, hell not even worth ticking the spoiler warning box when typing it up. But if you want to go in completely blind I suggest skipping to the next one. Unless that has spoilers too.*
Overly preachy epics about the nonchalance of the Capitalist West when it comes to the suffering of the third world have been getting something of a resurgence of late. First, we got George Clooney pointing an accusing finger at the global oil industry for the radicalised violence of the Middle East in Syriana and just before Christmas, Forrest Whitaker came charging out of the starting gates in The Last King Of Scotland to show exactly what sort of people are supported by Western Governments in order to keep the rich/poor imbalance in place around the world. Next to join this rapidly growing club is Edward Zwick's Blood Diamond. The target this time round though is not corrupt oil barons or African dictators but the diamond industry and their fuelling of third world conflicts by buying up diamonds from combat zone warlords. For those of you worried about another talk-heavy slow burner though then we may have found a solution, for while Blood Dimaond may be so preachy that it's borderline propaganda, it's also an action movie.
Yes, Zwick and co have decided to use the civil war that ravaged Sierra Leone in the late 90s as a backdrop for an adrenaline charged gun flick that is reminiscent of John Woo's Bullet In The Head for putting a civilian face on war rather than a military one. The film follows Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), a South African mercenary who recruits down on his luck native Solomon Vandy (Djimon Honsou) to help him find a king size diamond out in the bush while the country falls apart around them. This deranged little quest soon turns into an epic journey with them battling from one set piece to another. Thus, we get the pair ducking and diving around street corners as they try to escape the country's capital during the rebel invasion, the city torn apart as gunfire rips into soldiers and civilians alike with reckless abandon. Later, we get a brutal massacre of a group of journalists leading to a fast paced car chase and also helicopter attacks on guerrilla camps. As the duo hurtle in and out of life and death scenarios, you find yourself wondering exactly how much violence an Oscar nominated 'serious' film can possibly contain? Right up until another truckload of soldiers come bellowing out of the jungle with guns blazing...
Mixed up in all this is a variety of subplots showing the plight of the country. Solomon's decision to join Archer is fired not by greed but by the desire to find his missing son, who has been captured by the rebels and turned into a child soldier. This provides the most harrowing element of the film, with youngsters barely past their tenth year being brainwashed into killing machines who slaughter their own people without any sign of remorse. It's lifted right from the pages of National Geographic magazine and is all the more haunting for it.
Unfortunately, not everything works as well as it should. The running time especially is pushing it, clocking in just shy of three hours which could have been trimmed down by jettisoning the unnecessary ending, a hasty epilogue tacked on when it would have worked far better to end on the mountainside. Whatsmore, Jennifer Connelly's journalist Maddy Bowen is a bit too heavy handed. She works as mouthpiece for the writers opinions and not a lot more, associating love struck men who buy diamond rings for their childhood sweethearts with mass murderers with all the tact and grace of an appropriate metaphor with a tact bypass and no grace.
Preachy though it may be though, Blood Diamond is still an enjoyable film and a noble one at that. Like Syriana beforehand, it illustrates how everything in the world is connected and how something as innocuous as going to the shops can lead to hundreds of people in another country being slaughtered by AK totting eleven year olds. It's a very slick, dramatic movie and has another impressive performance from DiCaprio. It might be over the top but when most films would turn a blind eye to the world, this one shoves it right in your face and will leave you with at least a few difficult questions to consider.