Blood Diamond

Liz and I finally got out to see a movie! We also got to hang out with Matt and Liz so I'd call that a double bonus. I wasn't really sure if I really wanted to go see this in the theater or not just from watching the preview. I'm really glad I finally saw it though. This is a quality film. It reminded me a lot of Tears of the Sun and Saving Private Ryan, only this movie was a lot more meaningful and worthwhile. If you've never heard of blood diamonds, you've might have heard of conflict diamonds...no? Ok, I'll start at the beginning. A lot of violence has, is and will continue to happen in Africa over the control of valuable natural resources. Diamonds are just one of those resources that governments and warlords are trying to control. Many innocent people lose their lives over these resources and some of the larger nations in the world have been trying to do something about it. This movie is a story about some people who are affected by this situation. For starters this was directed by Edward Zwick. He has directed films such as The Last Samurai and Legends of the Fall. He's also produced I Am Sam and Traffic. For actors we have Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly. One person that immediately stuck out to me was Arnold Vosloo. You might recognize him as the mummy from The Mummy. Caprio is probably best known for his role in Titanic, a movie I still haven't watched, but I like to remember him for other roles such as "Growing Pains", What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Romeo + Juliet, Gangs of New York, Catch Me If You Can and The Aviator. I still haven't seen The Departed. Hounsou is an amazing actor and has done an amazing job in films such as Stargate, Amistad, Gladiator, The Four Feathers and In America to name a few. Connelly has definitely been around the block. She started her career out early in classics like Once Upon a Time in America and Labyrinth. She's also been in other films such as A Beautiful Mind, House of Sand and Fog, and Requiem for a Dream. If you've seen some/all of these films you'll know that the cast is pretty good. I used to not really like DiCaprio all that much and I wasn't sure why. This guy is a great actor though. He's done a wide variety of films with a wide variety of characters. I'm always impressed. I really liked how they shot some of the different scenes with different colors. I'm not talking about colors like Hero but more along the lines of shading things from browns to blues to vibrant colors depending on the location. It's little things like that, combined with music and the score that can really set a mood for a film. Even though I loved this movie I'm sure there will be some that won't for various reasons. There is a bit of violence in here. A lot of running through jungles and people being shot and killed. There's even a scene where you see captured villagers getting hands chopped off. This might be a bit much for some, but at least it's meaningful and not a Gibson film, right? Ok, I'll just stop right there. I highly recommend this one. Check it out.