Diamonds are Death

Rating: 9/10 (23 February 2007)

Blood Diamond is one hell of a movie, and I will rate it as a must see.Definitely is the best movie I have seen this year so far, and i felt mighty surprised that the Academy Awards have snubbed this movie in the nominations especially in the best Picture category which I feel it rightly deserves.
What can I say about a movie which revolves around such a sentimental and touching topic ? Illegal Diamond trading in Africa and the civil wars is the primary theme of the movie. The makers of this movie have joined these two ideas and produced a superb script. With some amazing casting, this movie has been brought to life by Mr.Danny Archer and Solomon Vandy. Leonardo DiCaprio seems to be getting better and better with each Academy Awards nomination he collects. This being his third, he is a very strong contender for Forest Whitaker. The character of Danny Archer the shrewd and cunning diamond trader who exploits the system, the government and the poor fisherman, farmers to get the diamonds. But even then late in the movie we find a soft side of him, when he sacrifices his own life to save the fisherman and his son. We find out about his horrific past. Djimon Honsu's portrayal of the fisherman is again superb. The poor fisherman estranged from his family by the war, finds his son taken by the rebels, brainwashed and fighting for them. His wife and daughter in a refugee camp. Jennifer Connelly's character Maddy Brown i again precise. A side character who in turn can do anything to meet her own needs, in this case a story about illegal diamond trading. Blood Diamonds. She unfolds the story about the Blood Diamonds and brings down the entire facade.
Its really hard to tell your feelings for the movie after the end. I for one was at a loss for words. The one scene where, the fisherman is telling his son,"You are Dia Vandy. You are a good boy, who loves soccer and school. I am your father who loves you and is ready to take you back as my son again." and the son has an automatic trained on him, will surely bring a tear to ones' eye. The background score for this movie was superb. So was the camera work. Some breathtaking footages about raw African beauty has been captured in the movie. An applause for the director for making a movie on this topic. Thank you sir for such a wonderful 2.5 hours experience.
A 9/10 !!!!