Every now and again a movie with a message comes along hoping to make a difference in the world. Or, it aims to rake in an Oscar or two through its lofty presence. We will never know a filmmaker’s true motivations and perhaps it matters little because the two are not mutually exclusive.
These are tricky movies to make. An audience does not want to be preached to, to be told why the filmmaker is more compassionate, more aware, and just a generally better person than they are.
These movies are also especially prone to being cheesy, one quotable quote after another, a lot of hand holding to epic scores, an epiphany or two leading to drastic character transformations (to the better, of course).
The question with these movies is, how deep into a good, believable story is the message buried? Does the character transformation involve the sudden shedding of all that was wrong, to embrace all that is good?
The soulful, fast-paced action-adventure “Blood Diamond gets it right.
Yes, there is a relevant message: be careful where you buy your diamonds, they may just be fueling civil war in Africa. Yes, you can change the world: ask for conflict-free diamonds. And yes, our leading man has a sob story underlying his immoral behavior and a beautiful woman helps dent his armor.
But what a message, what a leading man, and what a beautiful heroine.
Star Leonardo DiCaprio delivers yet another quality performance in his layered portrayal of Danny Archer, a character we’re bit quite sure what to make of at first.
One reviewer on rottentomatoes.com says DiCaprio has become “a man’s man with a powerful on-screen presence, but he has in the process become more a woman’s man as well, shedding his boyish charms for mature magnetism.
Boy or man, DiCaprio has always been an actor’s actor, “Titanic aside, and while he is nominated Best Actor for “Blood Diamond , there were also expectations he’d be nominated for his powerful role in “The Departed.
Djimon Hounsou is the other leading man. He plays a fisherman from a small village in Sierra Leone who gets caught up in the midst of the turmoil of the illegal diamond trade. While his role is a bit of a stereotype, his superb performance is moving, earning him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Jennifer Connelly plays a somewhat one-dimensional Maddy Bowen, an idealistic journalist out to expose the underbelly of respectable diamond selling. Her tough-but-compassionate role is meant to contrast with Archer’s realism. The chemistry is almost tangible but the relationship between them does not drown the power of the movie’s message with its weight. Desire, but no sex. Sorry.
Sparks aside, the movie is generally gritty and brutal. Sierra Leone in the 1990s is a place rife with terrorism and rebellion where the government is almost indistinguishable from the rebels.
Child soldiers are recruited and brainwashed into committing horrific crimes. Families are torn apart as refugee camps swell. And of course, the movie would not be complete if a Western power was not somehow culpable – in this case it is the British diamond tycoons.
Thankfully, all the tension is interrupted with genuinely beautiful cinematography and some touching exchanges between characters. Director Edward Zwick has much practice with the dramatic epic genre, previously directing successes “Glory , “Legends of the Fall , “Courage Under Fire , and “The Last Samurai.
Take the preachy bits as they come – the rest of “Blood Diamond has earned it. Oh, and don’t forget to ask where your diamonds are coming from.
