2 reviews

This is a truly excellent film which is entertaining, well-filmed and has a strong message to it. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to see a truly qualitative movie. Definitely the best film in the box office at present.

Did Someone Die for That Diamond?

Some diamonds have helped fund devastating civil wars in Africa, destroying the lives of millions. Conflict diamonds are those sold in order to fund armed conflict and civil war. Profits from the trade in conflict diamonds, worth billions of dollars, were used by warlords and rebels to buy arms during the devastating wars in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sierra Leone. Wars that have cost an estimated 3.7 million lives.

This film accurately portrays the situation in Sierra Leone with diamond miners being abused and forced to work for warlords. Leonardo Di Caprio and Jenifer Conolly produce excellent performances. A must see.

Kitty 10 Feb 2007

Not knowing how violent this film was going to be was a bit of an oversight. The depiction of random gang killings, torture, brutalisation of children, was all graphic, realistic and disturbing. So avoid this film if you don't like to see Africa in all of its darkness.

On the positive, the film was very good; Leonardo di Caprio plays Danny Archer, the bad diamond smuggler with a change of heart, very convincingly; Jennifer Connelly was pretty good as the journalist looking for the definitive background so she could bring down the blood diamond industry. For those who know nothing about how diamonds are mined in areas of conflict, and sold to buy arms to keep conflict going, the film is highly educational. I who own no diamonds will of course now avoid blood diamonds as much as possible (!).

The film moves along at a good pace, with much tension as wars erupt and gangs set about gangs. The emotional story of an African family torn apart by the warring factions, and eventually helped to be reconciled by Archer was a positive ending to a very gritty film. I came away even thinking di Caprio was a pretty good actor too, although I doubt it was an Oscar performance - his accent did slip alarmingly in speeches longer than one sentence.

RL 29 Jan 2007