For some reason I wasn't dying to see this film, despite the positive reviews and Oscar buzz this generated early on in its release. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised by this pic, a fairly straight-forward look at the bloody and brutal violence that beset West Africa in the late 1990s. Set in Sierra Leone, Leonardo DiCaprio is a South African arms dealer who catches wind of an enormous pink diamond rumored to have been found in a diamond mine run by ruthless rebels and populated by slaves. Worth millions, DiCaprio sets forth to manipulate everyone around him to get his hands on the diamond in order to secure his own future and get the hell out of Africa once and for all.
The plot is decent, and the performances by DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou are great (both received Oscar nods this morning). While the journey in the film is essentially DiCaprio's character coming full circle to embrace Africa and hopefully do the right thing, the story sheds light on how poor nations rich in natural resources can disentegrate into such brutal inhumane warfare so quickly. Whether it be diamonds in Angola and Sierra Leone or oil in Nigeria, we see how global commerce in commodities can rip societies apart to benefit the needs of Western consumers. Having read a lot about Sierra Leone and the tactics used by rebels and government alike during this era, I was happy to see this brought to light in a big Hollywood pic. Parallels to the current situation in Darfur, Sudan right now are clear (genocidal violence aimed at innocent men, women and children without the diamond angle).
DiCaprio's odd stab at a South African accent isn't even as annoying as I thought it would be...he seems to pull it off, and his character is completely believable. Well worth a watch...
3.5 out of 5 Stars
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