Review of IMDb Top 250 Films - Blood Diamond (2006)

I intend to conduct a review of the top 250 films on the IMDb database. At a rate of two per month this will still take forever as the list constantly changes. I don't claim to be a very knowledgeable or intellectual film critic but have tremendous confidence in my ability to discern good direction, script and acting, and to expose films which have enjoyed / endured an undeserved reputation in my perhaps arrogant opinion. There may be a few minor spoilers in my reviews.

Blood Diamond - Rating: 4.5 out of 6

This is a perfectly-paced movie and that is its key appeal, more than the script, plot and acting, all of which are good but not noteworthy in themselves. Never too slow (for it is not that sort of film) and seldom too fast that it becomes confusing, it manages its twists and turns gracefully, keeping the audience's interest throughout. Di Caprio's accent is unconvincing and overall he is no more than 'adequate to good' in the part, outplayed by Jennifer Connelly (check out her convinced and convincing delivery of the simple line "good things are done every day"). The scenes they have together bring out the best in Di Caprio and perhaps the film despite the apparent (to me at least) lack of chemistry. Note his very interesting, three-dimensional, and more often than not dislikeable character (Archer) compared with the 'noble savage' (ok forget the savage) character (Vandy) played by Djimon Hounsou who has just one face to put on: a troubled bedrock of integrity, who has trouble conspiring with even a little white lie to save his family. Archer's extreme confidence meanwhile is almost electric, and very funny when he can't pull it off!

The film does not pull its punches with regard to the activities of the child soldiers and brutal killings. It is justified in this film, which reflects most probably the true horrors of Sierra Leone's Civil War and the 'civilised' trade in diamonds which is encouraged by it. While the photography is often beautiful and the obvious contrast is made between such beautiful landscape and such ugly violence, this contrast sometimes crosses the line of crassness and not very much is learnt of everyday Africa, which is a shame, even if not much of that existed during this war. But after all, this is a Hollywood epic and it often shows: the typically powerful but sugary ending, and shouldn't Archer and Vandy be dead after all they have been through? Also the generally above-par script occasionally suffers: Archer to Vandy the fisherman in an attempt to form some sort of relationship: "What do you catch mostly?" "Fish" is the reply, end of scene. The humour is too self-conscious and out-of-place so doesn't work. And the Colonel's apparently prophetic remark to Archer: "You will never leave Africa". No no no: it is as spurious as the contemporary Hollywood/African soundtrack.

These are minor flaws however, and are perhaps almost inevitable in a big-budget epic, intended to attract the largest possible audience and to make shedloads of money. The fact of the matter is that despite or even because of the production, this is a very good, high quality film, very well-directed in that it makes best use of an admittedly well-written and complex screenplay (the intercutting of the Western conference with the African atrocities near the start is especially powerful) and exceptionally well-edited (the perfect pace). A film which grips the audience from start to finish must almost by definition have its flaws classed as minor and be given a high rating, hence my 4.5 out of 6.

Great line: “Throughout the history of Africa, whenever a substance of value is found, the locals die in great number and in misery”.