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Hounsou puts blood and soul into film
Blood shows more horrors and atrocities in Africa
By Tyler Casey
One of the most compelling elements of the film is the subplot involving Vandy’s son, who is taken by the RUF and turned into a child killing machine.
Robert Zwick’s “Blood Diamond” comes to theaters just in time for the holiday shopping season.
While countless Americans will hit the jewelry stores this month to express their love for one another through shiny rocks, “Blood Diamond” tells the unpleasant story of where they come from and how they get from coastal Africa to your girlfriend’s finger. And though it’s far from a flawless movie, it’s easily worth your nine dollars.
Set in the late ’90s in war-torn Sierra Leone, Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) is a fisherman ripped away from his family and forced to toil in diamond mines for the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a militant faction at war with the government.
After finding an incredibly valuable diamond, Vandy eventually comes into contact with diamond smuggler Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), who promises Vandy that he will reunite him with his family if Vandy shows him where the diamond is. Along their journey they encounter American journalist Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly).
But the real story of the film is what’s happening around the protagonists. As they move through the beautiful Sierra Leone countryside, we see horrible atrocities and the impact they have on innocent people.
One of the most compelling elements of the film is the subplot involving Vandy’s son, who is taken by the RUF and turned into a child killing machine. And all of it ties in with the diamond companies who, knowingly or unknowingly, rake in countless dollars from the suffering of others.
Overall, the movie is helped by strong performances by DiCaprio and Hounsou, who seriously deserves Oscar consideration. The movie drags at times with slow pacing and the occasional line of hokey dialogue. Another flaw is the uncanny ability of DiCaprio’s character to piss people off and reconcile with them with no explanation given by the script.
But the story is still one that deserves to be heard, and the film is definitely a success in that respect. “Blood Diamond” does an artful job of bringing a complicated and tragic story to the silver screen in a way that’s accessible to the masses.
At the very least, seeing this movie will help you hate those stupid “He went to Jared” commercials for an entirely new reason.
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