A bloody good movie

Rating: 8/10 (18 February 2007)

What BABEL strives for with 4 contrived tragic intertwined story threads, THE BLOOD DIAMOND hits a bullseye with one excellent and timely topic with a powerful and believable subplot.......and a stellar performance by an ever increasingly admirable Leonardo Di Caprio. Like Matt Damon in THE GOOD SHEPHERD and James Franco in FLYBOYS we see a major young male actor delivering a performance that carries the whole film, elevating it to near classic proportions and allowing for a complete absorption and focus for the astonished viewer. I have high admiration for the massive production undertaking that is clearly on screen allowing for a spectacular and tragic epic drama that bats political home runs right to the viewer's increasing awareness of the horrors and cruelties of Africa. As 'worldly' as BABEL attempts and becomes laboured, preachy and contrived; this film succeeds because it is mounted as a combat political thriller with deep social awareness, family realities and utter sadness of loss of spirit. THE BLOOD DIAMOND is terrifying in every way and clever to allow the viewer to be so well swept up that any 'lessons' of the plot and character come as welcome fascinating insights rather than a shopping list of BABEL misery. Director Edward Zwick who also was behind GLORY in 1989 sees the power in the struggle of injustice and noble races has, to me, now offered a superb tough look at the reality of recent Africa and a consumer issue still valid in 2007.