I liked Blood Diamond a great deal, but do not think it is a great film. Hounsou was wonderful as well, and I liked the chemistry between the two men in their scenes together. A Mende fisherman Djimon Hounsou. In comparing it to other recent films about Africa, I didn't think this was quite as good as as Hotel Rwanda, but better than The Interpreter, The Constant Gardener, and The Last King of Scotland. He was able to make the audience feel the gamut of emotions his character experiences during the course of the movie- pride and hope, fear, outrage, resignation, mistrust, desperation, and determination, and beautifully rises above the somewhat limiting way his role was written. DiCaprio's performance is impressive, certainly the best by him I've ever seen: he is totally believable as a white African. Blood Diamond 2006 Subtitles A story following Archer, a man tortured by his roots.
I felt an emotional engagement with the characters I didn't experience in the latter three films. Because I lived in Sierra Leone, in fact in Kono, the diamond-mining area of the country, for three years, I had to see Blood Diamond as soon as it came out. Very mainstream and formulaic, but it is raised up quite a bit by DiCaprio's character and his terrific realization of it. With his performances in 'The Departed' and now 'Blood Diamond,' I think I need to reappraise my own biases against him. Why is there misery and exploitation? I thought she and Leo worked wonderfully together, as well, and along with Mr. When told that Americans are in part to blame for conflict diamonds she responds with a line about 'not all girls want a fantasy wedding.
Secondly, although I've had little patience for him before, Leonardo DiCaprio has really impressed me this year. When detained in prison for smuggling, Archer knows Solomon, who was forced to work in the diamond diggings founnd and hid this diamond. With a strong survival instinct, he has made himself a key player in the business of conflict diamonds. My local reviewer gave it a B+. Upon meeting Solomon, and the beautiful Maddy, Archer's life changes forever as he is given a chance to make peace with the war around him.
This fine work, with Hotel Rwanda, stands out as a film seriously attempting to explain the atrocities that Africans somehow can do to themselves. Djimon Hounsou is perfectly cast and is more-than-believable when he wields a shovel. His character is not above playing servile if that will keep him alive. Djiman Housou has enormous physical presence as the brave Mende fisherman. Because the story line is so true, and the acting, writing, directing, locations, people, and photography are all superior, I must admit prejudice toward such a high rating.
Making a child a soldier is a war crime, and this movie artfully shows you why, without saying a word about it. With a strong survival instinct, he has made himself a key player in the business of conflict diamonds. My interest here was to see how characters would respond to adversity and a terrible, horrifyingly dark situation. DiCaprio's performance that raises this film above it's standard Hollywood fare of a script although it is a solid script into something memorable. The more natural ending is on the mountainside -- you'll know what I mean when you see it. .
With a set of natural instincts that lends a non-showy, believable quality to all of his performances, versatility, and movie star size charisma that fills up the screen and emotionally hooks the viewer into his character and story, it is hard to think of another male American actor with the exception of Johnny Depp who is consistently giving an audience its money worth; these two gentleman have taken the reins from Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, as those two Oscar-winning future legends of the silver screen gracefully age into more mature roles. This movie just gets so many things right that the few places it departs from reality are entirely forgivable. Awarding him an Oscar for Blood Diamond would not be a big enough compliment for the way he aced the role of Danny Archer. Political unrest is rampant in Sierra Leone as people fight tooth for tooth. Amid the explosive civil war overtaking 1999 Sierra Leone, these men join for two desperate missions: recovering a rare pink diamond of immense value and rescuing the fisherman's son, conscripted as a child soldier into the brutal rebel forces ripping a swath of torture and bloodshed across the alternately beautiful and ravaged countryside. There is a great deal of violence in this movie, but that violence is organic, realistic, fitting to what happened there. She generally manages to save the character from either of those fates though and also manages to avoid self-righteousness when dealing with some of the films more morally flexible characters.
Compelling characters and the skillful use of a truly gripping global issue as the plot line make this a satisfying viewing experience- one that I would happily see again. In much smaller roles are Arnold Vosloo as a mercenary Colonel, Stephen Collins as a diplomat and Michael Sheen as an executive at a diamond company. I found the script allowed my care for the characters to grow as the story progressed, and was not overly manipulative. Characters see the wealth of the diamond and are destroyed by it. Tragic and heartsick, 'Blood Diamond' is drenched with cynicism and defeatism. An ex-mercenary turned smuggler Leonardo DiCaprio.
Danny Archer, a South African mercenary looks for unique pink diamond but can''t. I don't know if that is the case. The accounts of atrocities are shockingly real. Take Leonardo DiCaprio's best performance over the last 15 years and multiply it by 10. They suggest that the conflict diamond situation has been exaggerated and completely distorted. They even manage to convey the fact that the people are as astonished by this violence as we are; Sierra Leone used to be one of the safest countries in the world. The film is a character study both of all the men pursuing the pink diamond and what effect it has on them, but it is also a character study of Africa.