Dir.
Edward Zwick, US, 2006, 144 mins
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Connelly
Review by Carol Allen
This is an efficiently
constructed commercial thriller, set against the civil
war in Sierra Leone in the '90s. It stars DiCaprio as the
anti-hero Danny Archer, a Rhodesian born diamond smuggler,
involved in the illegal "conflict
diamond" trade – a term used to describe stones,
which have been sold to fuel and finance conflict, civil
wars and human rights violations. DiCaprio is very good in
the role, the classic rogue, who finds redemption in the
course of the story. He presents a complex, adult characterisation,
resisting the temptation to make Danny likeable or heroic.
But he is Leonardo DiCaprio, so we do of course engage with
him.
The blood diamond of the title is a rare pink diamond, hidden
by Solomon (Hounsou), a fisherman forced by the Sierra Leone
military to work in the diamond mines. The two men combine
forces in an attempt to recover the diamond, Danny for his
own gain, Solomon to rescue his wife and daughters from a
refugee camp and his son from enforced service in the army.
Hounsou is rather predictably noble
but a strong presence nevertheless as the black co-hero
but Connolly as idealistic journalist Maddy Bowen, who
is trying to do an exposé on
the conflict diamonds trade, is something of a cipher and
frankly a bit wet.
The opening scenes showing soldiers
invading Solomon's village, chopping off people's limbs
and kidnapping young boys are horrific, as are later scenes
of what is virtual slavery in the diamond mines and of
Solomon's young son being trained to kill. There is also
an impressively repellant performance from David Harewood
as a brutal army captain. But despite Maddy mouthing a
few chilling statistics, the film fails to get to grips
with the moral implications of the story or give us any
idea of the reasons behind the civil war in Sierra Leone.
Overall the impression one is left with of Africa or certainly
Sierra Leone in the 1990s is of a totally nightmare place
where no‑one is safe but it does have
beautiful scenery. Unlike last year's The Constant Gardener.
which was very clear about how the pharmaceutical trade is
exploiting Africa, the role of the West in buying these conflict
diamonds comes over as a bit incidental with the most visible
villains being black.
Apart that is from a scene towards the end featuring Michael
Sheen as a London diamond merchant, who still looks so much
like Tony Blair that one thinks for a mad moment that the
film is accusing our esteemed prime minister of being involved
in the illegal diamonds business!
However the film is providing a useful peg for campaigners
such as Amnesty to use in order to publicise the conflict
diamond issue and it is a perfectly competent and sometimes
emotionally engaging action thriller. But a little more political
meat would have been welcome.
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