Blood Diamond: THIS IS AFRICA!

You heard right. Not Sparta, but AFRICA! I finally watched Blood Diamond last night, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Danny Archer, Djimon Hounsou as Solomon Vandy, and Jennifer Connelly as Maddy Bowen. The movie is about the illegal trafficking of diamonds in Africa: diamonds are harvested in Sierra Leone, smuggled into Liberia, and from there, sold to the rest of the world. The film tries to take on a documentary approach, meant to inform the world about the horrors behind those pretty little stones, but who are they kidding. Leonard DiCaprio doesn't do documentaries. This movie is meant to entertain the masses. And that it does, quite well in fact; Blood Diamond was nominated for 5 Oscars and a Golden Globe.

Now onto the plot: Danny Archer is a white man that likes to smuggle diamonds. Solomon Vandy is a black man that likes to catch fish. Maddy Bowen is a white woman that likes to write stories. How do they all fit together? Let me tell you. Actually, I won't. Watch the movie and find out, because describing plot is painfully boring for me; I'm here to write about what I thought of the movie. But since I'm a nice guy, and some of you may not have seen the movie, I'll give a brief run-through of what happens. Revolutionary United Front (RUF) insurgents attack Solomon's fishing village. Guns are fired, villagers are killed. RUF kidnap Solomon's son, and Solomon is forced to become a slave. Imagine that, slavery in Africa. While slaving away near a diamond mine, Solomon finds a big diamond. He buries it. Government soldiers find the RUF mine, and more guns are fired. Solomon ends up in jail.

Archer trades illegal arms to RUF forces for diamonds. He tries to bring the diamonds across the Liberian border, but is caught. Archer ends up in jail. Archer and Solomon meet. Archer learns of the big diamond, and offers to help Solomon find his family in return for the diamond. Both agree, and the adventure begins. Oh, and somewhere along the way they meet Maddy Bowen, who exchanges her services as a reporter, including the ability to cut lines, obtain helicopter rides, and make peace with random African tribes, for Archer's secrets on diamond smuggling. That pretty much sums it up.

Note: Here come some possible spoilers.
The themes of the story are rather cliche. Archer fits the role of bad guy turns good guy. Initially, he is a ruthless, greedy, and all around shady character. The audience is led to believe that as soon as he has his hands on the diamond, he will get rid of Solomon. Or at least I was. Up to the very end, I kept thinking that Archer would pull a gun on Solomon at any moment. I even had a theory that when Archer handed the diamond over to Solomon, it was a fake one, and that he was still planning to betray him. Shows how much I believe in humanity. But alas, morality and humanity triumphs! Archer becomes a changed man, and gives up his personal dreams for the greater good of Africa.

This leads us to the next theme: destiny. Early on in the film, Archer has a conversation with his long time mentor, Colonel Coetzee, played by Arnold Vosloo. Coetzee points out that they are both tied to the land, namely Africa. They were born there, lived there, and will die there. And that's exactly what happens. Despite Archer's best efforts at getting off the continent, he does not make it out alive. He gets very close, and in fact, I think with the help of Solomon, he could have made it out of Africa. But instead, he surrenders to fate. Destiny, once again, prevails.

I thought the cinematography was nothing special. The special effects used were rather ordinary, with no particularly clever usage of the camera. Don't get me wrong, the film still looked great. It just wasn't very impressive in the technical sense. But the location and setting was another story. It was both impressive and fitting, really capturing the mood of the story. The rugged mountains and dense jungles show that Mother Nature still dominates Africa. Society has not yet taken hold; man is still wild and lawless. Blood is shed indiscriminately to fuel greed and lust for power. What results is a mixture of beauty and fear. Nature is beautiful in her raw form, while man is to be feared in his raw form. The amount of sheer chaos and disorder in Africa makes the average American, or me at least, feel uncomfortable. The fact that a person can do nearly anything with little or no consequence is a foreign concept. All of this lends a very exotic and dangerous feel to the film.

All in all, I would recommend seeing Blood Diamond. Its strong point is in the plot. The story is unique, and based on events that occurred in the not so distant past, thus making it seem somewhat plausible. There were, of course, a few exceptions; some of the scenes were so coincidental that I almost laughed. All I have to say is that Solomon is one lucky son of a gun. The characters were fairly well developed, so misfortunes for the main characters cause an emotional stir in the audience. It was a tragedy from the point of view of Archer, but Solomon and Maddy triumph. The film concludes that illegal diamond exporting and the exploiting of African peoples has been downsized, but still has not completely ceased.

The moral of the story, girls, is to stop demanding all those diamonds. By not asking for anymore diamonds, you can save countless African children. Forget donating a penny a day. When you buy diamonds, you support terrorists! Not to mention you can save us, guys, a pretty penny. In all seriousness, America is the largest consumer on the diamond market; nearly two-thirds of all diamonds sold are to the United States. If terrorist organizations are able to get their hands on even just a small portion of the multi-billion dollar industry, it will be enough to fuel further violence.

Oh, and what's with the tag line "TIA - This is Africa?" We already have "This is Sparta!" from 300. Both turned out to be very successful. This might be a trend. I wonder what the next "This is Fill in the Blank!" movie will be.