Blood Diamond

Blood Diamond directed by Edward Zwick starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, and Jennifer Connelly. 

I’ll tell you what, Edward Zwick is one of the rare directors who makes movies that are normally about something, but unlike most of the Hollywood leftists, who seem to think preaching is the only form of communication. Edward Zwick actually makes movies that are good and entertaining and when the movie is over you don’t feel like you’ve been preached at or have had your intelligence insulted. 

Blood Diamond is the kind of movie that exposes the exploitation of the diamond business in Africa, but unlike most of Hollywood, in Zwick’s film there are so many villains that pointing the finger at whose evil does no good.  Everyone is evil and in the end a life is a hell of a lot more precious than any diamond ever will be. By then end of the film that's one thing that rings true: life versus a diamond. I never for once felt he was hitting me over the head with this idea. 

Another thing that makes this movie really fire on all cylinders is that DiCaprio’s character, who’s a smuggler and scoundrel, stays that way throughout the film and doesn’t have some change of heart moment, which was a bold move to make for the movie.  It made his character all the more real and only helped to strengthen the message being presented here. All in all it’s actually a very bold screenplay as it doesn’t adhere to a lot of the typical Hollywood cliches.  Don’t get me wrong there are a few in place but I felt they were earned, whereas the typical ones: cynic finally finds a heart, the leading man sleeps with leading lady, and let’s not kill the bad guy when we have the chance, instead let’s keep him around a little longer so he can come back later for a more dramatic death scene.  All of these typical clichés are abandoned leaving this screenplay with a very focused storyline. All of this is only helped by Zwick’s direction and the many on the location shots that only add to the theme of the movie. It’s a good movie, with a good screenplay, and some solid acting.