Blood Diamond Review

 

Blood Diamond

Director: Edward Zwick

Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Connelly, Kagiso Kuypers, Benu Mabhena, Basil Wallace, David Harewood Arnold Vosloo, Marius Weyers &Michael Sheen

Running Time: 143 Mins

Release: 26 January 2007

Set in 1999 in Sierra Leone, during the civil war, the Mende fisherman Solomon Vandy (Hounsou) village is attacked by rebels (the R.U.F Revolutionary United Front), Solomon gets his family away and he is kidnapped and made a slave to work in the diamond mines, he comes across a big pink diamond and he attempts to hide it, the brutal sadistic commander of the camp Captain Poison (Harewood) see's him hide it and just when he's about to get the diamond off him, a firefight breaks out as the army have attacked the camp. Solomon is arrested and put in a cell with many other prisoners and the injured Captain Poison comes through laid out on a stretcher and see's Solomon and asks about the diamond of which Solomon denies any knowledge of knowing him nor the diamond.

In another cell Danny Archer (DiCaprio) a former soldier & mercenary who's become a diamond smuggler from Rhodesia overhears this and is interested in Solomon and the diamond as it could settle the score between him and his former employer Colonel Coetzee (Vosloo).Archer arranges the release of Solomon , once outside he receives a roll of money from one of Archer's associates. Later Archer is released and he catches up with Solomon and offers to help him find his family in return for the diamond. Shortly thereafter they meet an American humanitarian journalist Maddy Bowen (Connelly) who will help Solomon find his family. Archer needs her help too to reach the location of the diamond. Though she soon realises that Archer is just using Solomon to get the diamond and refuses to help unless he becomes a whistleblower on the illegal diamond trade that funds the bloody civil war and it's links to a major diamond trade company run by Rudolf Van De Kapp (Weyers) and Rupert Simmons (Sheen) to end the illegal trade and conflict once and for all.

I have to say the acting in this is absolutely phenomenal, all the actors do an absolutely outstanding job making their characters feel like real people and are full of frisson.

I only know Djimon Hounsou from Gladiator and I have not seen that in years and he only had a supporting role in that. In this his role is much more bigger and prominent I was absolutely blown away by his outstanding performance as Solomon Vandy. He goes through a hell of a lot in this film to reunite with his family and will do anything to reunite with them and it's absolutely heart-wrenching, incredibly powerful and moving. He expresses so much not just with his voice but his voice, but with his body language and eyes you can tell he's literally gone through hell. He seems to me to be a peaceful man who does not want to be violent but when he does he goes to the extreme especially in one scene which I don't want to spoil for you. I am surprised he did not win an oscar.

Of the three leads he is is the most sympathetic as he's willing to intervene more than the others especially in one scene he brings an injured young boy that he does not even know aboard the bus to save him, He really wants to make a difference no matter how big or small.

It's revealed later in the film that he's son (Kuypers)has been kidnapped by the R.U.F and is made into a child soldier and this becomes the drive for him to find his son and rescue him to bring him back and these scenes are incredibly powerful especially one towards the end. His performance feels incredibly raw and real. The friendship between him and Archer which slowly builds and grow is fantastic to watch as they don't get along at first then as they go to know each other they become friends but they do have rough patches which i'll go into later.

DiCaprio delivers a outstanding and scene stealing performance as Danny Archer and I have to say he has the most character development of the three leads which i'll go into later on. I have known DiCaprio to be a very well regarded actor, though i've never seen him in anything before until I saw this and I was really impressed. Granted i've never heard the Rhodesian accent before but after watching this I know it's near the same as the South African accent.

Archer is a man who's seen it all and has lost most of his humanity and is completely selfish, greedy, sleazy, cynical and unlikeable. As the the film goes on and his relationships with Bowen and Solomon develops he regains some of his humanity through the way we learn more about him and how he became who he is and how this reflects on his actions. Within him there's a moral and loyalty conflict between who he once was and who he has become and this is seen mostly through his friendship with Solomon. As he was a soldier he knows how to handle a gun and has no problem with putting people down and he can be ruthless. In two scenes in particular I felt rather scared and threatened by him,these two scenes just goes to show the conflict within himself.

His character development feels very natural as does the growing sympathy for him as he slowly redeems himself, well for me anyway .His last scene is absolutely beautiful. I would not call him a hero,but an anti-hero. It's an amazing performance. I'm very keen to see more of his films.

His unlikely friendship with Solomon is particularly brilliant as they slowly respect each other and gain some common ground & understanding. It's one of the most natural friendship development i've ever seen on film and does not feel forced at all.

I've only seen Jennifer Connolly in Jim Henson's Labyrinth and that was many years ago when I was a child and this is the first serious film i've seen her in. She plays Maddy Bowen a humanitarian war journalist who covers the wars from the civilian point of view, as a journalist she is trying to end the war instead of just victimising the civilians for charity ads which no one cares for. She see's Solomon as a story but cares for him at the same time trying her best to reunite him with his family.

Her relationship with Archer is different it turns from resentment, mutual respect to platonic love. She uses him to gain evidence for her journalism and as she learns of his tragic background and his outlook on the world she sympathises and begins to develop feelings for him whilst getting information from him. I've heard that some people think that the relationship between her and Archer is heavy handed but I think it's a very subtle subplot and does not take away from the film in anyway. I think she's perfect in the role as a war journalist who's trying to make a real difference.

Kuypers is absolutely fantastic in his small but pivotal role as Solomon's son. We see snippets of his life as a child soldier from his initiation it's incredibly grim, horrid and sickening watching him get de-humanized. It's very raw indeed. He's fantastic going from bright eyed young kid to a dead behind the eyes cold blooded soldier who's just following orders. His scenes with his father are incredibly moving I am really surprised that he's not been in something since this. He's incredible in one scene towards the end i'll just say it involves an air strike.

I was surprised to find that Arnold Vosloo was in this, i've only known him to appear in the Mummy films and the Darkman sequels. Being honest this is the only time I have really seen him act and I must say he's absolutely fantastic in the role as Colonel Coetzee he's rather villainous as he wants the war to continue as he funds it and it's doing very well, also he's also quite philosophical too and he's great in the role. He's also South African which I did not know. Like Archer he shares some of the same traits that he did early on in the film, it just goes to show how it's effected him too.

I was also very surprised that David Harewood was in this too, I did not recognise him till he took off his sunglasses !. Once he did I recognised him immediately he's been in Homeland and a lot of BBC Dramas as he's an english actor. He's incredible and near unrecognisable in the character he played I never imagined that he could play such a role like this. He's a real nasty piece of work and viciously sadistic as Captain Poison. He's unrelenting and a true mad man who manipulates kids into becoming soldiers. It's like he's cam from hell and even he himself admits. It's like a demon has taken human form.

Also Basil Wallace is fantastic in his role as Benjamin Kapanay a teacher who's become a protector of former child soldiers trying to bring them back to normality, it's a very touching role as it shows that there are some good people aside the main three leads who are trying to do good and help and Benjamin is a clear example of that.

Also special mention to Benu Mabhena who plays Solomon's wife she's not in that much of the film but she's great especially in the camp scene it's really heartfelt and the kids that played child soldiers they have a lot of courage for the roles they did.

Marius Weyers and Michael Sheen were really good, I was surprised Sheen was not in it that much as his name features on the back credits, then again he's a well known actor.

Edward Zwick has done a masterful job directing this, it's absolutely outstanding, sometimes you forget your watching a film. He has not cut any corners nor does he let us flinch away from the realistic, raw, sheer brutal violence in the film, sometimes I held my hand in front of my mouth in shock especially in one scene near the beginning where one poor captive get's his hand lopped off !. The film shows there was atrocities on both sides.

Like in some of Zwick's films there's action set pieces and there's a few of those in here too all of which are incredible and had a lot of extras, you don't see that much on this scale these days, the big battle in the city, jeep chase scene and the air strike at the mine spring to mind. I was on the edge of my seat watching those, I was really wrapped up in them.

I cannot write this without mentioning how they captured the absolutely beautiful landscape of Sierra Leone despite the constant, eruptive bursts of violence it's a utopia (like one character says) it has awe inspiring mountainous ranges, lush jungles and hills full of vibrant colour and it looks absolutely stunning on Blu-Ray.

James Newton Howard has scored this film and I know that he's done many soundtracks to some films I have seen but never really paid attention to them as I was younger and don't look at films like I do now. He's done a tremendous job and the score sounds very natural and suit the atmosphere of the film and the music really emphasizes on the tension and emotions in the scenes and the piece that plays in the final scene is truly beautiful.

I have only one complaint with the soundtrack, right at the end at the start of the credits it plays Shine on 'em by Nas and it was written by Nas and James Newton Howard himself, I have no problem with any genre of music but I feel it ruined the feeling that I had at the end of the film, the lyrics were very good but I don't feel it suited the tone of the film.

The film is incredibly thematic; power, civil war, corruption, politics,hope, redemption and morality. I loved every single moment of it. It's incredibly well acted, filmed with stark realism and moments of pure beauty, a well fitted soundtrack and a very human story at the heart. If you love a film with a great story with real world issues and rich themes this is it.