Blood Diamond

Been on a movie spree lately. Just watched Blood Diamond with Daryl at Marina Square. 1 word, fantastic. The cast is simply powerhouse which comprises of Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly.

The story is about Sierra Leone, an African country rich with diamonds and rebels seek to gain control of the country by illegally mining for diamonds and smuggling them abroad to earn money to buy arms. Much blood is shed when the rebels gain control of some parts of the country. Soloman (Djimon Hounsou) is a fisherman who gets embroiled in the turmoil and was captured by the rebels to work at the diamond mine. Everything changes when he finds a large unpolished pink diamond stone. Danny (Leonardo DiCaprio), a diamond smuggler, gets involved in the chase for the pink diamond and the hunt begins with his life at stake for screwing up a deal with the militia.

The movie starts off with a nailbiting chase sequence with the rebels shooting everything in the village while Soloman scrambles to find his family and tries to escape from the clutches of the
rebels. We see the cruelty that the rebels do to their own people, publicly cutting off limbs of captured people, shooting anyone who comes into their path, and they brainwash the young male children and teach them to be ruthless murderers. Money is the root of all evils and in this movie, it's diamonds.

The story is constantly engaging, keeping it as realistic as possible and it is based on factual events in Sierra Leone. Leonardo DiCaprio delivers an Oscar worthy performance with his layered and flawed character, and together with Djimon Hounsou who gives an intense and riveting performance. There is genuine chemistry between Danny and Maddy (Jennifer Connelly) and the director takes the chance to bring out the melodramatic effects.

An incredible 1st half of the movie which enlightens the fact that people who buy diamonds are actually indirectly financing the rebels, supporting slavery and destabilising the african governments with stronger rebels. The 2nd half of the movie was more of an action adventure which that brings us along the journey to find the diamond. It is still exciting and engaging although some parts of the movie is a bit exaggerated and unrealistic.

Nevertheless, i enjoyed every bit of the movie especially the wonderful performance of the talented cast and the political urgency of the engrossing story. A must watch!
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