Blood Diamond (2006)
Country: US/GER
Technical: col/2.35:1 143m
Director: Edward Zwick
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Connelly
Synopsis:
As Sierra Leone spirals into Civil War, International diamond dealers connive in the laundering of conflict diamonds, obtained through slave labour and smuggled out to purchase arms from unscrupulous mercenary groups. Against this background, a smuggler and former mercenary embarks on a quest for a fabulously dimensioned stone as well as a journey of self-knowledge through his acquaintanceship with a black African war victim and a female American reporter.
Review:
Zwick's variation on his Last Samurai concept (white adventurer on a journey from cynical professionalism to a state where he is prepared to die for an idea) is less unwieldy but still broad in scope, taking in civil war atrocities, child soldiery, Under Fire-style survival of revolution, Out of Africa pauses for scenery and the white man's conscience theme of the new African film (The Constant Gardener et al.) DiCaprio's performance and sheer energy hold it together well and though it doesn't quite sell out as entertainment, inevitably there is a lot more black suffering on offer as spectacle here than one is comfortable watching, in more ways than the obvious one. The budget seems well spent.
Country: US/GER
Technical: col/2.35:1 143m
Director: Edward Zwick
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Connelly
Synopsis:
As Sierra Leone spirals into Civil War, International diamond dealers connive in the laundering of conflict diamonds, obtained through slave labour and smuggled out to purchase arms from unscrupulous mercenary groups. Against this background, a smuggler and former mercenary embarks on a quest for a fabulously dimensioned stone as well as a journey of self-knowledge through his acquaintanceship with a black African war victim and a female American reporter.
Review:
Zwick's variation on his Last Samurai concept (white adventurer on a journey from cynical professionalism to a state where he is prepared to die for an idea) is less unwieldy but still broad in scope, taking in civil war atrocities, child soldiery, Under Fire-style survival of revolution, Out of Africa pauses for scenery and the white man's conscience theme of the new African film (The Constant Gardener et al.) DiCaprio's performance and sheer energy hold it together well and though it doesn't quite sell out as entertainment, inevitably there is a lot more black suffering on offer as spectacle here than one is comfortable watching, in more ways than the obvious one. The budget seems well spent.
Country: US/GER
Technical: col/2.35:1 143m
Director: Edward Zwick
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Connelly
Synopsis:
As Sierra Leone spirals into Civil War, International diamond dealers connive in the laundering of conflict diamonds, obtained through slave labour and smuggled out to purchase arms from unscrupulous mercenary groups. Against this background, a smuggler and former mercenary embarks on a quest for a fabulously dimensioned stone as well as a journey of self-knowledge through his acquaintanceship with a black African war victim and a female American reporter.
Review:
Zwick's variation on his Last Samurai concept (white adventurer on a journey from cynical professionalism to a state where he is prepared to die for an idea) is less unwieldy but still broad in scope, taking in civil war atrocities, child soldiery, Under Fire-style survival of revolution, Out of Africa pauses for scenery and the white man's conscience theme of the new African film (The Constant Gardener et al.) DiCaprio's performance and sheer energy hold it together well and though it doesn't quite sell out as entertainment, inevitably there is a lot more black suffering on offer as spectacle here than one is comfortable watching, in more ways than the obvious one. The budget seems well spent.