What I Rented - Blood Diamond

Blood Diamond explores the nature of African conflict diamonds through the bold in-your-face directorial style of Edward Zwick. It proudly wears its message on its shoulder, and never apologizes for moments that lean toward the melodramatic. In short, it’s that rare modern Hollywood film that actually gives a damn, and even though, at times, it tends to brush up against action film clichés, there’s a passion lurking in every cut that pushes the film toward its emotional finale.

In the mid nineties, Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) is taken from his family to work the diamond mines in Sierra Leone. While enduring this slave labour he finds a extremely rare diamond, and hides it. Denny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), a diamond smuggler, finds out about Vandy’s discovery, and forms a shady partnership with the man in order to recover it. Their journey leads them into the chaos of civil war, forces Vandy to come face to face with the horrors that have befallen his family, and allows Archer to explore his corrupt nature.

The most startling scenes show just how quickly violence erupted in various parts of Africa during the nineties. Zwick doesn’t shy away from showing the brutality of this war, and the unpredictable nature of when and where a strike will occur adds an underlying tension to even the most serene of scenes. In the most horrific element of the movie, Vandy’s son is taken under the guidance of rebel forces, and is programmed to become a cold blooded killer.

But, ultimately it’s the human story between the main characters that provides the heart of the movie, and the script allows Vandy and Archer to evolve as the story progresses. Each man fuels the other man’s journey, Archer shows Vandy the darkness in the world, while Vandy shows Archer the light. It’s not a complicated character arc for either, but both Djimon Hounsou and Leonardo DiCaprio make it rich and fulfilling. DiCaprio in particular has the unenviable task of making the corrupt and highly manipulative Archer a likeable character. His natural charisma turns even the most mundane of lines into a revealing moment.

Blood Diamond is a welcome blast of topical Hollywood cinema in a year that seemed to pump out far too many vacuous films.

**** out of 4