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.
