SPOILERS DOWN THE PATH; THE DISCUSSION BELOW WILL NOT BE COMPREHENSIVE WITHOUT IT.
TREAD CAREFULLY. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.
In the spree of quality films that cemented Leonardo DiCaprio's stature as one of Hollywood's most bankable, talented and celebrated stars ever, Blood Diamond is one of the jewels responsible for that!
The film successfully gives you a broad view of how and what the diamond mining business is like in the African continent with brutal violence and bloodshed of the locals being the result! The absolute chaos in these countries with families being separated is extremely disheartening, and we are introduced to one such family of Solomon Vandy (Djimon Honsou). He's a simple fisherman who wants education for his kid. Their interactions are truly heartwarming but quickly dispersed by the radical attack on their village. He's held captive to mine diamonds, and this is when he finds one of the rarest pink stones in the world. How his fate entwines with Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio); a South African smuggler involved in weapons exchange for diamonds and does he or not unite with his family forms the crux of this fantastic political thriller!
Danny goes through a transformative and believable character arc that'll move you to tears at the resolution as he gives in to his eventual death. He starts off needing the pink diamond to settle his debts to eventually sacrificing every info that he ever had to stop the war behind this global trade on top of uniting Solomon with his family. Maddy (Jennifer Connelly) is a reporter who's onsite to cover said war crime, but what she lacks is a bite. The chemistry she shares with Danny is hot and furthermore, she's a vital part of his character growth and how the journey of these three principal characters clash with, integrate with and are dependent on one another's goal at the same time create good conflicts along this path to stop diamond consumerism.
Most of the action sequences are extremely dangerous and visceral! Taking photos of a tribe, Solomon's son's destructive life changes which includes guns and substance abuse, Danny's baboon story, gunpoint mutiny finale, Solomon slowly pacifying his son to reality plus his tug of choice between going after his child or the diamond are some of the best scenes Blood Diamond has on sale. Native African flavoured score is amazing and the smooth pacing keeps the show going with little hurdles.