Blood Diamond

I enjoyed this movie. The story was pretty interesting and there was sufficient action and drama to keep my eyes glued onto the screen.

There are three main stories intertwined together in this movie. One story is about the civil war in South Africa and how the people suffered. The next is how blood diamonds are farmed and used to buy weapons for the war. And the third story is basically about a father searching for his family through the war. Of course, there is the obligatory love story between Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly. Thankfully, this is quite a minor story and doesn't really feature strongly in the movie. Given it's subject matter, the movie is pretty violent. Plenty of killing, blood, hand chopping, senseless slaughter.

All the actors do a pretty believable job in the movie. Leonardo is pretty convincing as the conflicted diamond smuggler and Djimon Hounsou is excellent as father searching for his family. Of course, Leonardo is still trying hard to shake off his teenage image and while he succeeds to some degree, I couldn't help but still think of him as a young guy. I think it's his face. He just has this boyish look, despite growing more facial hair.

For these kind of movies, I think the critical factor in deciding if it's any good is whether it manages to leave behind a message in your mind. For me, there were some very strong messages. (1) how senseless all the killing was in Sierra Leone. People killing each other, as if their lives were totally worthless. (2) how abhorrent the rebellion soldiers were in training children to become soldier who killed without a second thought. (3) how our ignorance in buying conflict diamonds continue to support these people in their senseless war.

If you are looking for a decent action movie with a social message attached, this is it. If you want to dissuade your girlfriend or fiance from getting a diamond ring (and going with something cheaper) this movie might be your lucky break.