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The one on Blood Diamond

Posted on the January 13th, 2007 under Screen Talk by Razlan

The scene was set in Sierra Leone, at a peaceful fishing village. A young boy was awoken by his fisherman father for his day at school. Walking to his lessons 5 km a day, the boy spoke of a beautiful future and hope for his country.

“One day, when peace comes, our country will be a paradise”

Many scenes of horrifying brutality, brilliant dialogue, edge-of-seat suspense, tearful drama and a powerful plot, Blood Diamond concludes with a man addressing the world on the terror of conflict diamond inflciting many countries of the Africa continent.

From the brilliant cast of Leonardo di Caprio (as Danny Archer), Jennifer Connelly (as Maddy Bowen) and Djimon Hounsou (as Solomon Vandy) comes a story of humanity so moving, you must have a heart of stone not to be moved by their tragic tale.

From the IMDB

Set against the backdrop of civil war and chaos in 1990’s Sierra Leone, Blood Diamond is the story of Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) – a South African mercenary – and Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) – a Mende fisherman. Both men are African, but their histories as different as any can be, until their fates become joined in a common quest to recover a rare pink diamond that can transform their lives. While in prison for smuggling, Archer learns that Solomon – who was taken from his family and forced to work in the diamond fields – has found and hidden the extraordinary rough stone. With the help of Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly), an American journalist whose idealism is tempered by a deepening connection with Archer, the two men embark on a trek through rebel territory, a journey that could save Solomon’s family and give Archer the second chance he thought he would never have.

What make this movie so memorable to me was it seamless woven an intricate web of suspense, love, comraderie and hate so powerful, it drives the message across loud and clear. With a clear political undertone, Leonardo portrays the role of an ex-soldier deeply rooted in the bloody trade in Africa to such perfection, complete with the right slanged English and healthy looking tan, it is little wonder how he was nominated for the Annual Golden Globe Award 2007 under the category “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama”

Apart from the few tear-jerking scenes which got the emotional yours truly sniffing and sobbing aloud, there were various issues portrayed brilliantly in the movie. Like how the children soldier of Africa was trained to kill without mercy (that was a real shocker!), how the civil war tore apart families and entire villages, how greedy corporates exploit the undeveloped nations’ riches… apart from being a great lesson of history for me, it has certainly left me gaping at the end of the movie, thinking of nothing else but the wonderful plot.

Best punchline of the movie? Archer: “In America you have bling-bling, here you have bling-bang”

This will go down as one of my best movies of all time. So..

Will I watch it the second time? Yes
Will I watch it the second time, free? Definitely
Will I buy the VCD/DVD? Probably yes

If you have yet to catch this epic movie of the year, you must be mad not to do so now.

Related links on the movie
“Blood Diamond” Official Website
“Blood Diamond” on IMDB
“Blood Diamond” on Wikipedia
“Blood Diamond” on Yahoo! Movie
“Blood Diamond” on Rotten Tomatoes.
Trailers on Apple.com
Trailers on YouTube.com

Related links on the outstanding cast
Leonardo di Caprio Official Site
Leonardo nominated in the Annual Golden Globe Award 2007
Jennifer Connelly on Wikipedia
Djimon Hounsou on IMDB

Related links on blood diamond in Africa
Info on Conflict Diamond
Stop Blood Diamond!
The Kimberly Process