- Gun Culture - Arvind Balaraman
Released in 2006, Edwin Zwick's Blood Diamond is one of the finest movies of Leonardo Dicaprio's illustrious career. Following is a critical review of Blood Diamond.
The Plot of Blood Diamond
Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) may well have been living on different planets until fate brings them together in a dangerous adventure where they must fight for each other in order to survive and achieve their dreams.
In the background of the civil war in Sierra Leone, Solomon Vandy is a poor farmer who has lost everything – his fields, his money and his family – until one day while working for the totalitarian revolutionists he finds an extraordinarily large and clear diamond and somehow manages to hide it in the blood-soaked mud. Later arrested as a prisoner of war, he makes the acquaintance of Danny Archer, a South African diamond smuggler feeding off the blood diamonds that come out of Sierra Leone and adjacent war-torn countries of Africa.
Learning about Vandy's priceless diamond, Archer realises that it can be his one-way ticket to paradise – he can sell it for millions of dollars and leave behind war-torn Africa forever. He also appreciates that he can never find it without the help of Solomon Vandy. So the two of them strike a deal – Solomon will help him find the diamond and in return Archer will help Solomon find his family who got separated during an attack on their village. With reporter Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly) for company, the ever resourceful Danny Archer sets his devious and dangerous plot into action and attempts to fool both the nationalists and the revolutionists and retrieve the diamond from the heart of war-ravaged Sierra Leone.
In the meantime, pressure is mounting on Van de Kaap, a leading diamond trader in Antwerp known to have close contacts with smugglers in Africa dealing in blood diamonds. He is also a major client of Danny Archer. As pressure starts to mount from all sides, he agrees to abstain from buying blood diamonds and now all Danny Archer can do is hope that the diamond will be so fantastic that Van de Kaap will not be able to refuse one final deal with him. But, first he must penetrate deep into the field of battle, trust strangers for allies, risk his life at the every corner and hope that the diamond is still were Solomon Vandy left it.
And thus unfolds a story of camaraderie and faith between two men who could not have come from more different backgrounds or have had more different aspirations, but have only one thing in common an overwhelming urge to live and be happy.
My Verdict on Blood Diamond
First of all, kudos to director Edwin Zwick for remarkably blending a rugged, brutal and grotesque storyline with a soul stirring simplicity and sentimentality while drawing some long overdue attention to a burning issue that has unfortunately been overlooked down the decades by the privileged Western population.
The action and suspense hardly ever lets up but is never mindless, always remaining faithful to the plot. The on-screen chemistry between Danny Archer and Solomon Vandy is a sheer treat to the senses. Leonardo DiCaprio delivers a masterly performance easily comparable to his exploits in Titanic. Along with that, a superior supportive cast and a nerve-wracking background score makes Blood Diamond a movie you dare not miss.
Anish Dasgupta - Hi ya folks, I'm an 18 years old undergraduate currently studying Chemical Engineering. Apart from that I'm an active blogger ( ...
