Critical Film Review on Blood Diamond Essay

A movie filled with shark and unforgettable moments truly gels the substance. It portrays different motives and goals and how each character changes his methodology and ways but the dream remains the same. Each follows his dream and then realizes it. It portrays the various reasons that make a person into a killer. Some do it for survival, some to protect their family, some to escape their life, some for greed, some to win freedom and some because they have been brainwashed. The movie begins with Soloman Vandy played by Djimon Hounson being captured by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels when they invade the small Sierra Leonian village of Shenge. He is separated from his family while his son Dia is brainwashed that turns him into a killer. The movie revolves around two African men, Archer and Vandy with two completely different histories and then their fates become joined in a combined quest to recover a pink diamond. Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), an Anglo ex-mercenary from Rhodesia gets caught while smuggling diamonds and an American journalist Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly) who helps Soloman find his family and covers her entire journey and publishes the truth behind the diamond industry. The movie shot in South Africa and Mozambique is an adventurous, thriller movie with strong violence and social conscience, disturbing political and sociological insights. It shows a lot of bloodbath, atrocities, innocence of the farmers and the villagers and political unrest. It gives clear images of human cruelty and sufferings. I as an audience felt waves of different emotions, hope, pride, fear, mistrust, desperation and determination. I felt that each of the characters grew as the film progressed without being overly manipulative. The whole time it builds this tension if either of the two men will betray each other. The film is intended to be watched by all adults as it is an eye opener and gives us an opportunity to see the side of history we were not aware of. It covers the different social levels ranging from the big diamond tycoons to the poor farmers and villagers with journalist and diamond dealers in the middle. The movie brought an explosive impact on the diamond industry. Background knowledge The film puts a new spin to the diamond industry and the expensive, pricey stone that we wear around our neck and on our fingers. Set in the West African country of Sierra Leone during the 1990s, this movie is a historical-adventure-drama that covers a time when the country was in turmoil. Warlords, smugglers and the diamond association all play roles in killing and enslaving men to work on the diamond fields. The title ‘Blood Diamond’ refers to diamonds which are harvested, smuggled and traded to fund the purchase of weapons used in Civil War. Blood diamonds are stones that are increased the death toll and the violence in the region. The movie carefully conveys the message without really lecturing the audience. A right balance is maintained between a historical event and an action-drama entertainment. The movie shows Maddy Bowen publishing in her magazine the complete story of her journey which later led to a conference on blood diamonds that actually took place in 2000 in Kimberly, South Africa. The conference led to the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme that seeks to certify the origin of diamonds in order to curb the trade and smuggling of conflict diamonds. Conclusion A captivating plotline and an outstanding cast performance are few words that describe the movie. The movie captures the reality to a remarkable degree. I think it comes at par with other movies I have seen like Hotel Rwanda. There is a great deal of violence which is realistic and very fitting to what happened. Sierra Leone, one of the safest countries in the world gets involved in a civil war. I feel that the movie very accurately tells about the diamond conflict. I feel that Di Caprio did justice to his role, Connelly’s role was short but she was able to make the most of it and Housou truly deserves the Oscar. The ending was simply superb when Di Caprio dies in the mountains. It adds a realistic touch and is very sad as we see that he finally gets what he had dreamt of but he could not cherish it for long. The positive aspects of the movie far outweigh the negative bits. I felt the movie was a little outstretched and the length bogged it down a little instead of strengthening it. The conflict of diamonds, the conflict of Africa keeps you wondering if peace and harmony can ever be attained world wide. It left me with a thought of how violence can be put to an end and how these giant corporations be made to serve the third world, under developed countries and not vice versa. Reference http://www. moviehabit. com/reviews/blo_lg06. shtml http://review-online. blogspot. com/2007/03/blood-diamond. html