April 26, 2007
Blood Diamond
Diamonds from Sierra Leone
Blood Diamond stars Leonardo Dicaprio as Danny Archer, a diamond smuggler who crosses paths with Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou). Vandy was separated from his family and forced to mine for diamonds. After discovering and hiding an exceptionally large diamond, everybody wants a piece of him (so they can have the diamond) while he just wants to be reunited with his family. Vandy and Archer agree to help each other get what they're after but they need a little extra help and luckily for them Maddy Bowen, a reporter played by Jennifer Connelly, is reporting on the blood diamond industry and is able to get them access to things like helicopters and guns in exchange for a story.
Set against the backdrop of a Sierra Leone torn apart by civil war, it's a story aiming to depress viewers into never buying diamonds again. A subplot involving Vandy's son being abducted and forced into becoming a child soldier is both shocking and horribly mishandled. Footage of children being handed guns and staring into the camera while stating their nicknames is edited together like a rap video dramatically undermining the effect that I assume the director was going for.
Another subplot is a romance between Archer and Bowen. This part of the film is probably the one handled with the most care, yet the least developed, and definitely the most innappropriate. Unsurprisingly, Blood Diamond continues the tradition of films that deal with the struggles non-whites but ultimately end up being about how the white character is changed for the better. This should come as no surprise considering the fact that Edward Zwick, the director, also made the films Glory and The Last Samurai. Is it just me or is there a pattern here? Zwick appears to have some issues that he needs to work out, I'm just having trouble deciding if it stems from guilt or messianic aspirations.
In this film we're led to believe that Archer, as a white African, is living in the same Africa that Vandy is, this is highlighted by his ability to speak the local dialects, his street-smarts, and the scene at the end of the film when he's dying. Looking out at the mountains he grabs a fist full of red dirt and watches it slip through his fingers. Armed with the knowledge that in his dying actions he helped Vandy escape to Europe he can die content. Cry me a river.
Being suspicious of any "message film" that comes out of Hollywood, I could've told you going in that I'd come out with a lot of things to gripe about. I just didn't think it would be this easy. Leonardo Dicaprio is an easy target and always will be unless Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reaves can work together to eliminate Titanic from history (read my review of The Lake House). However, I've always thought he's actually a decent actor who takes on roles that are challenging and his performance here is good. Although he ultimately ends up doing the right thing, his character is generally not that likable. No doubt a risky role. The truly bad performance here comes from the horribly miscast Jennifer Connelly. She looks completely out of place in all the scenes and doesn't even look believable when she's taking photographs.
It's on the face of Djimon Hounsou, playing the role of a person whose life truly is effected by the events depicted in this film that we almost get that revelatory moment. The scenes between him and his son are powerful but the scenes and everything leading up to them feel a bit too manipulative (read: Hollywood) to really make an impression on the viewer, something the entire film suffers from in general.
Showtime recently premiered the long awaited television version of the popular NPR radio-show "This American Life." The radio-show is kind of like an Erroll Morris documentary. Each episode has a theme and various people recall experiences related to the themes. The show's a big hit so when it came time to transition from the radio to television the big question was "what does television have to offer that radio doesn't?" Obviously, it was images that could accompany the words being spoken and more importantly the looks on peoples faces. Watching the show it becomes clear that a picture really is worth a thousand words. Subtle changes in facial expressions and body language or little details in the environments in which the subjects surround themselves say more than the much beloved Ira Glass could ever hope to convey in an hour on the radio.
Watching Blood Diamond I kept thinking about everything I had read about "This American Life" and couldn't help but ask myself, "what is Blood Diamond saying that Kanye West didn't with his song 'Diamonds from Sierra Leone?'" Not much, unfortunately and Blood Diamond also lacked the great beat, West's awkward rhymes, and Jay-Z's brilliant cameo. If the good intentions of Hollywood liberals made for great films, Blood Diamond, would've been one of the best films in recent memory. Unfortunately, we all know that's rarely the case (*cough* Crash *cough*) and Blood Diamond turned out to be no exception.
