Over the last few years I believe we have seen Leonardo DeCaprio quickly emerge as the new generation version of Robert De Niro or Al Pacino. It may seem like hyperbole but I truly believe it. While I didn’t enjoy The Aviator, he was phenomenal and already this year he was brilliant as an undercover cop infiltrating the brutal Irish mob in, The Departed. Now, here is again blowing me away in Blood Diamond, as a quick thinking, ex-military diamond Smuggler. The movie is about an African man, played with some serious fire and intensity by Djimon Hounsou, who finds a diamond while being a slave. He hides the diamond and eventually lands in prison. DeCaprio is in some heat after his latest shipment of smuggled diamonds gets snatched so he tries to convince Hounsou to help him by promising to help find Hounsou’s family. Add a drop dead gorgeous Jennifer Connelly as a thrill seeking do gooder reporter and you have yourself a whirl of a movie.
The movie is unflinching in its violence as well as in its politics. Diamond sellers were outraged by the movie. The Country, Sierra Leone, was embarrassed, promising the country was no longer like that but the movie is never dull, never lets up and even has some wit within the dialogue. I believe this is the highest body count I have seen on film this year and much of it is in up close full view and nearly 75% of it involves kids with guns. It is merely a side plot within the film but in reality could be an entire new film on its own. The concept of the rebel army kidnapping young boys, brainwashing them and giving them guns is a real scare and deserves to be probed by a filmmaker. That might actually be my one complaint about the movie- there is almost too much material for one movie. One more thing about the violence, it is realistic and shocking, but I think it is shocking because it feels real and almost organic. It is meant to stir feelings of uneasiness and it fully accomplishes that goal.
All of the acting in this thing is top notch but Hounsou matches his obvious physical presence with a serious level of crazy over the top intensity that some might say is too much, but if you look at it from the place of a man desperately holding onto hope that is family is still alive, you believe every single second he is on the screen and DeCaprio matches him step by step with an easy attitude and a sense that his character has thought of everything ahead of time. Leo truly excels in this movie. There are 2 scenes I could point out that show a stark contrast in the characters personality but both feel very real. There is a scene where he finally opens up so Connelly that could break your heart and later in the film he shows a menacing and threatening side as he gives warns Hounsou about something.
The movie may be a few years to late to change anything in the world since Sierra Leone is no longer in that bad of a shape and the civil war ended, but it is still good to see films like this being made. Some may find the film preachy and one person described to me as “limo liberalism” because it implies “oh when you go out to buy diamonds this week make sure they aren’t blood diamonds” but I found the film to be realistic, brutal, thought provoking and ultimately worth the ride. If for no other reason than watching Leonardo DeCaprio take his character and progress in a full 180 degrees from beginning to end. It really is like watching a genius at work.
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