Blood Diamond
This is the first time I can say that I have enjoyed a film with Leonardo Di Caprio in it. Maybe because they didn’t use him in some kind of appalling romance role and he no longer looked so effeminate, but rather fairly broad and burly. Not that I care about how Di Carpio looks, but this is important as his role pretty much shaped the film and made it quite good. He even did a decent South African accent.
A quick recap of the film without spoiling the plot. It is set in Sierra Leone and it is about the trade of ‘conflict diamonds’. In short, rebel warlords massacre villages, kidnap slave workers, recruit child soldiers and mine and sell diamonds to fund their revolutions. In the middle of all this, is a murky world of mercenaries and diamond smugglers out to exploit and make themselves rich. And of course, at a distance, but in effect funding the conflict are the big international legitimate diamond traders.
I really liked this film because it pretty much showed the viewpoints of all sides and their roles in the conflict and sometimes their backgrounds. It painted a very good picture of how things are rarely black and white which is very real world. It was also a good portrayal of some of the true dilemmas of Africa, both in terms of the good, bad and downright ugly. The Hollywood cheesiness was kept to a respectable minimum and this can be seen in the fact there was romantic tension, but no improbable sex scenes or even any kissing at all in fact.
Overall a pretty decent film showing some real ethical and moral issues.
A quick recap of the film without spoiling the plot. It is set in Sierra Leone and it is about the trade of ‘conflict diamonds’. In short, rebel warlords massacre villages, kidnap slave workers, recruit child soldiers and mine and sell diamonds to fund their revolutions. In the middle of all this, is a murky world of mercenaries and diamond smugglers out to exploit and make themselves rich. And of course, at a distance, but in effect funding the conflict are the big international legitimate diamond traders.
I really liked this film because it pretty much showed the viewpoints of all sides and their roles in the conflict and sometimes their backgrounds. It painted a very good picture of how things are rarely black and white which is very real world. It was also a good portrayal of some of the true dilemmas of Africa, both in terms of the good, bad and downright ugly. The Hollywood cheesiness was kept to a respectable minimum and this can be seen in the fact there was romantic tension, but no improbable sex scenes or even any kissing at all in fact.
Overall a pretty decent film showing some real ethical and moral issues.