A Retrospective

Rating: 9/10 (2 June 2007)

Personal, political, and exploitation/commercial interests clash in this straightforward adventure film, Ed Zwick's aptly titled BLOOD DIAMOND. While this title might be misleading, making unsuspecting viewers believe this is closer to a Indiana Jones' type adventure complete with human sacrifices, the entire scope of the plot revolves around a rare blood diamond -- a stone of a pinkish color used to finance terrorist organizations, hence the 'blood' portion of its moniker -- that has immeasurable value. And sure enough, sacrifices of a very human sort abound left and right, most notably in Solomon Vandy's plight to retrieve his son who in a mêlée has been kidnapped by a militant group and used as a child soldier, and the only person he can trust is the very untrustworthy Rhodesian merchant Danny Archer who wants the stone as his ticket out of Africa and will help Solomon find his missing family... for a price.
BLOOD DIAMOND can be summed up as an adventure movie that has a powerful, symbolic message at its core -- that of the trials and tribulations that the African people have had to endure in the name of profit and greed. Djimon Hounsou tackles a clichéd role with an immense believability -- it's very moving, even gripping, to see what he has to go through to get something as simple as his family -- and especially his now child soldier of a son -- back. When he cries out that he cannot live without his family, knowing he was supposed to have protected them and failed, you believe it, and you root for him and hope that Archer does not betray this absolute trust Solomon has placed in Archer's hands. You want to see the moment when he becomes reunited with his son and gets back at the man who took him away in the name of this cursed stone.
Leonardo diCaprio has a tricky role to play, being frankly amoral in the Bogart tradition. He looks even more rugged than he did in THE DEPARTED which helps him bring forth credibility into his portrayal of Danny Archer. Jennifer Connelly, always an actress I love to see in the small roles she undertakes, makes a lot more out of a role that could have been very throwaway. She has a great scene where she uses her wiles and her ability as a photographer to get the two men out of a very risky situation, and a rather moving scene towards the end, but the film has little use for her, being focused on the terse relation between Archer and Solomon.
BLOOD DIAMOND is terribly old-fashioned, alas. It's not a bad thing: sometimes a movie benefits by going back in time and exploring the values that were prevalent then. Because of an existing conflict involving these blood diamonds, the events of the late Nineties served as a platform for the story being told here. If it weren't for the crystal-clear cinematography, it wouldn't be odd to see Bogart, or Grant, for example, in the role of Danny Archer, and/or Ingrid Bergman or Deborah Kerr or even Barbara Stanwyck in the supporting role of Maddy Bowen which Connelly plays. But, not to digress, old-fashioned or not, this is a fine adventure with a strong humanity at its center.