Leo shines in film with message
What happened to Leonardo DiCaprio? The boyish features that won the heart of Kate Winslet - as well as girls around the world - in Titanic have disappeared. In place of his good looks is a reckless, fearless and cynical gaze that knows how hard life can be, and that there are places in this world that are far more miserable than the deck of a sinking ship.
One of these places is Sierra Leone in 1999, a country ravished by a civil war fuelled by the trade of illicitly mined diamonds. This is the setting of Blood Diamond, an action thriller in which DiCaprio plays a diamond smuggler.
The smuggler is busted by a patrol officer. While in prison, he overhears that a fisherman (Djimon Hounsou), who unwillingly became a miner after being kidnapped by the guerrilla army, has found a precious pink diamond.
The fisherman, who has hidden the diamond, wants to reunite with his family. The smuggler, who has a tragic past and little conscience, wants the diamond. The two therefore pair up and embark on a dangerous journey to get what they want.
Joining the two men is a beautiful journalist, played by Jennifer Connelly, who is gathering evidence for a story that exposes the connections between a multinational diamond company and illegally-mined gems.
Blood Diamond does a good job of conveying a social message. The frenzied editing and handheld camerawork suits the scenes of terror in which men, women and children are killed, tortured or brainwashed into becoming killing machines.
Director Edward Zwick has found the right balance between entertainment and conscience, and the action scenes are shocking without being sensational or gross.
DiCaprio delivers his best performance to date. He is no Humphrey Bogart, but like Rick Blaine in Casablanca, his character is a sentimentalist disguised as a cynic. As an actor, DiCaprio now has depth, and the smuggler character in Blood Diamond - a man who engages in illegal businesses with terrific zeal, but gradually finds redemption - is both fun and touching to watch.
The film serves as a reminder to affluent consumers in developed countries that everything comes at a price.
But it doesn't explain why it is the people of Sierra Leone who have to pay that price.
VERDICT: GO TO THE MOVIES
