Blood Diamond

Rating: 8/10 (9 December 2006)

Blood Diamond is set in the late 90's in Africa and is about a fisherman named Solomon Vandy who is taken away from his family and forced to work in the diamond mines. The film is also about an ex mercenary named Danny Archer who is looking for diamonds. Solomon finds a diamond and hides it and soon meets up with Danny who helps him escape from the mine and Solomon promises to help Danny find the diamond he buried if Danny will help him relocate his family. The two are also helped by a journalist named Maddy Bowen. The film is in some ways a thriller about escaping the guards and the violence that rule the country and in other ways is a drama dealing with political issues and about a man trying to get back to his family. Winner of The NBR Award for Best Supporting Actor (Djimon Hounsou, who plays Solomon) at The National Board of Review. Blood Diamond has good direction, a good script, great performances by the cast, good original music, good cinematography and good film editing. I was impressed by this film in the way that it was a longer running film, but it never got boring and always had a good steady pace. The performances are great and worthy of award nominations and I like how the film incorporated political issues into this story and at the same time got to focus on these characters and become a bit of a character study. This is a good looking film as well and it is well directed and has a good script too. The film is quite powerful and moving in several ways as we care about Solomon and wish to see him reunited with his family and we also feel bad for the people of Africa who have been subjected to all this violence and loss. This is a well made and engaging film with a great cast and crew behind it and a powerful and engaging story that should keep your interest right till the end. Blood Diamond is one of the better films of the year and I can see it's cast and crew being nominated for several awards by the end of the year.