Zwick Pulls at Social Conscience in Blood Diamond

Edward Zwick has displayed an uncanny knack of formulating a marriage between the collective consciousness of man, and whichever displaced, tortured or scorned sect of historical society fancies him. It's a formula that produced Oscar-winners like Glory, epics like The Last Samurai, and now a sweeping retrospective of the murderous diamond camps of Sierra Leone in the late 90s and early 2000s, Blood Diamond.

What the viewer needs to know first and foremost before entering into the film, is that they are going to have a choice. You can either ignore the plight of the African people (a plight, in different forms, that has been brought to light on the big screen of late through films like the striking Hotel Rwanda and the intense The Last King of Scotland) and embrace plot as your ally. This road helps ensure you being spared the barraging darts of guilt that some will undoubtedly feel for being so ignorant to such horrid indiscretions. Or, you could do what Zwick more than likely wants you to do -- learn.

In Blood Diamond , Leonardo DiCaprio plays Danny Archer, an African native who has seen more than his share of strife as a mercenary soldier. In Sierra Leone, he attempts to smuggle what are referred to as "conflict" diamonds to Liberia, where they can then be sold to a massive English corporate diamond syndicate. After being caught for smuggling, he learns of the existence of what is found to be a 100 karat diamond, which brings in the incomparable Djimon Hounsou, who plays Solomon, a man separated from his family and forced to work for the R.U.F. (Revolutionary United Front) in the diamond fields where he discovers the rock in question and hides it during an attack by governmental soldiers.

Determined to find his family, Solomon and Archer form an unlikely, somewhat disturbing but altogether altruistic team. They are countered by an evil Colonel from the R.U.F. and Archer's former mentor, and are forced to race time and for their lives back to the camp where the diamond is buried while civil war wages indiscriminately along their route.

Many people will see this movie for the star power. The gals will go check out Leo. The guys will see the explosions in the previews. There's enough of Leo's surprising ferocity for the gals and enough death and destruction for the guys, but if that's why you'll see this film, then don't. I'm a firm believer that plot is the vehicle for story, but story is the gasoline. There has to be a reason we watched thousands of Africans being slaughtered by their own people. There has to be a reason we watch Solomon's son turned into a gun-toting, murderous member of the R.U.F. There has to be a reason Jennifer Connolly's reporter character is more than just the sexual tension the gals need in a Leo movie.

Because I gripped to the story and allowed the darts of guilt to sting me (even though I have no idea on Earth what I could have done back then to help that sad situation), it was obvious that the PLOT ran way too long. We miss out on Leo's backstory until almost the end and sadly, it keeps you on the fence about his character the whole film. I'm not sure the studio wants gals not to love Leo. He's Leo for God's sake. A little humanity early in him could have gone a long way. The educational aspects of the film unfold slowly, but excellent performances by the cast help to carry it through the two hour and twenty minute saga.

The cinematography in the film is superb. More and more, Africa is being depicted in film for the genocide and strife that has so often occured there. In the last 10 years, directors and cinematographers are showing it for what it could be, while they educate on what it is. This is important. If there is nothing to be saved, why teach the lesson? It's the hope of what could be that spurns action.

As for the action that can be spurned from this film (and this is quite easy for me to say since I've not yet traveled down the road to the jewelry store to waste three-months salary on something pulled out of the African dirt), well, you'll think more carefully about who you buy your engagement rings from, and maybe a little more compassionately when you're demanding one. If not, at least make sure to ask whether the diamond you buy is "conflicted."