Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #987 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-06-18
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Subtitled, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 138 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Leonardo DiCaprio puts a handsome face on an ugly industry: In parts of Africa, diamond mining fuels civil warfare, killing thousands of innocents and drafting preteen children as vicious soldiers. DiCaprio (The Departed) plays Danny Archer, a white African soldier-turned-diamond-smuggler who gets wind of a large raw jewel found by Solomon Vandy, a native fisherman (Djimon Hounsou, In America) recently escaped from enslavement by a brutal rebel leader. Archer offers a deal: He'll help Vandy find his war-scattered family if Vandy will share the diamond with him. Drawn into this web of exploitation is journalist Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly, Little Children), who agrees to help if Archer will tell her the details of how conflict diamonds make their way into the hands of the corporations who sell them to the Western world. DiCaprio is compelling because he never flinches from Archer's utter ruthlessness; Archer ends up doing the morally justifiable thing, but only because his desperate greed has led him to it. Hounsou and Connelly, though saddled with all the moral and political speeches, rise above the cant and keep the movie's treacherously formulaic plot rooted in human characters. But in the end, the story won't stick with you as much as the dead stillness in the child soldiers' eyes; the horror of African civil strife refuses to be contained by Blood Diamond's uplifting message--and the movie is all the more potent as a result. --Bret Fetzer

Synopsis
Set in Sierra Leone, BLOOD DIAMOND explores the role of diamond trading in the African civil war of the late 1990s. Narrowly escaping death when his village is invaded by Revolutionary United Front (RUF) militia, fisherman Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) is enslaved at a diamond mine and has his family taken away from him. When he discovers an unusually large stone he buries it, knowing it might be his only means of retrieving his family. While Vandy is imprisoned, white African diamond smuggler Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) overhears an angry RUF leader shouting at the farmer about the missing diamond. Seizing the opportunity, he gets Vandy out of jail, then offers to help find his family in return for half the stone’s worth. United by a common goal, the two men clash over drastically different values, but manage to stick together in pursuit of the prize. Meanwhile, Archer crosses paths with intrepid American journalist Maddie Bowen (Jennifer Connolly), whose obsession with uncovering the truth about conflict diamonds lands her in the middle of the bloody action. As the three embark on a dangerous journey filled with close calls, unlikely bonds form that threaten to change Archer’s unfeeling ways. Meanwhile, a subplot involving Vandy’s beloved son shows us the horror being done to and by child soldiers at the hands of the so-called freedom-fighting rebel forces. Addressing a serious subject with passion and skill, director Edward Zwick (THE LAST SAMURAI) delivers impressive action sequences that feel horrifically real without seeming excessive. While some critics have lambasted the film for its Hollywood elements, no one can argue against BLOOD DIAMOND's noble intentions or its stellar performances. To most viewers, the film is likely to provide a disturbing and educational insight into a world many know little about.

Customer Reviews

Great Hollywood drama
This great Hollywood blockbuster is one of a series of thought provoking movies along with the constant gardener and shooting dogs .Filmed in South Africa , London and Mozambique ,the result is excellent and the photography in this movie is a good as it gets .

It tells the story of two people who must find a very large diamond for very different reasons , one to save his son and the other to become rich . The action scenes are very realistic is terms of showing the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone as Saving private Ryan showed the landings in Normandy .

Leonardo DiCaprio deserves praise for his portrait of the South African mercenary he developed very convincing South African accent , he and Djimon Honsou work very well together and there is great scene when their characters clashed over racial issues .

Michael Sheen delivers another impeccable villain role as the unscrupulous diamond merchant who will buy anything from a war zone .

The only character that is not so good is Jennifer Connelly , also her relationship with Leonardo Dicaprio seems a bit far fetched and the romance is not very convincing.


4 and a half stars , only if it had a different female role ....

Blood Diamond
'Blood Diamond' is one of DiCaprios better films and one that leaves you thinking about the issues it explores long after the credits have rolled. All the actors play their roles well and the locations make for some stunning scenery. The storyline is pretty shocking at times and it feels like it is half action movie and half political commentary. The issues around blood diamonds are explained pretty well and it'll make you think twice about those innocuous sparkly stones that we see everywhere. As other reviewers have noted, the film is excellent, but the sanitised, saccharine Hollywood ending spoils what is a powerful film, with an important message. Overall though, I'd say this film is well worth watching, it will keep you engaged the whole way through and is well shot and acted. A directors cut without the last five minutes would be great!

Leo DiCaprio finds his niche
I've never been a big Leo DiCaprio fan but was interested to see what the hoopla was about Blood Diamond and I have to say that I was not disappointed either in the storyline or the casting.

The story plots the true price of the search for diamonds in Sierra Leone and how the suits of Europe hide the true depths of diamond mining and smuggling and how the diamonds help finance and encourage civil wars throughout Africa. This is a film though that, while concerned with the political situation in Africa, focuses more on how the obsessive search for a large, rare pink diamond consumes those who get too close to it.

In Blood Diamond Leo DiCaprio has finally found a part that was made just for him. His portrayal of the opportunistic diamond smuggler Danny Archer was a cut above any other performance I've ever seen him do and may finally push the audience to stop seeing him as the floppy-haired hero of Titanic fame. He certainly won me over.

Djimon Hounsou is nothing short of incredible and the chemistry between him and Leo was evident throughout. Hounsou was able to make the audience feel the whole range of emotions his character experiences ranging from pride and hope to fear, outrage, resignation, mistrust, desperation, and determination.

Jennifer Connelly did as good a job as possible in her role as "the idealistic journalist who wants to make a difference." I thought she and Leo worked wonderfully together and along with Djimon Hounsou they make an engaging trio you can't help rooting for.

All in all a wonderfully engaging film that shows the brutality behind the diamond trade for all to see.