BLOOD DIAMOND

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ANTIHERO

Leonardo DiCaprio Just Gets Better
By Cole Smithey

Volatile intrigue abounds in this politicized story about South African arms-dealer-and-diamond-smuggler Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), a former diamond mine captive desperate to reunite with his family.

Solomon has hidden a rare pink diamond in Sierra Leone that Archer will go to any lengths to obtain.

Jennifer Connelly plays Maddy Bowen, an idealistic American journalist with more than a passing interest in Archer and in the real story behind the conflict diamonds making their way into the world market.

Archer and Solomon must journey deep into rebel territory in Sierra Leone to retrieve the glorified stone that could reunite Solomon with his family and provide Archer with a way out of South Africa. Leonardo DiCaprio gives yet another career-high performance in this satisfying, fast-paced action/drama by director Edward Zwick ("The Last Samurai").

In "Blood Diamond" political context is everything. The writers (C. Gaby Mitchell and Charles Leavitt) are keen to expose the illegal diamond trade that produces "conflict" or "blood" diamonds from banned zones in Africa.

Revolutionary United Front (RUF) soldiers attack a small village in Sierra Leone whose impoverished inhabitants are indiscriminately shot by child soldiers on a mission to abduct more impressionable youth to be converted into new recruits. During the melee an RUF officer with a machete uses an overturned boat as a chopping block to cut off the hands and arms of his victims.

"Short sleeve or long sleeve?" he jokingly asks before committing the vile act that informs the harsh reality of the film. In this grotesque nightmare Solomon’s child Dia is captured. The RUF commander spares Solomon’s arms in order to enslave the powerful man to gather diamonds that will finance the rebel group.

A UN meeting provides essential exposition about the prohibited diamonds from such conflict zones that make up 15% of the world’s diamond trade. The story visits upon the chain of command that hoards diamonds to keep prices high. Veins of corruption run straight to top.

Danny Archer tellingly calls the place where he was born "Rhodesia" instead of its proper name Zimbabwe. It's a personal act of defiance. When Archer arrives to trade guns for diamonds with a local warlord, he switches from speaking English to talking in tribal African slang while his partner-in-crime circles the area in a single propeller plane with guns onboard.

Before being thrown into jail for smuggling, his diamond compensation sewn into the neck of a goat, Archer presents himself to police as a believable National Geographic journalist.

In the first 15 minutes DiCaprio rifles through his character’s highly developed skill set with a pedal-to-the-metal approach that defines him as a fluent interloper trapped inside Africa. He uses a battery of survival techniques he’s perfected since witnessing the torture and murder of his parents when he was young. Archer’s recurring motto, "T.I.A." (This is Africa) sums up the stern logic that enables him to never underestimate situations or opportunities. It also dooms him to live and die a country where he doesn’t belong.

Solomon and Archer are arrested under different circumstances but thrown into the same crowded jail where Solomon’s also-incarcerated diamond-mine boss publicly accuses Solomon of hiding a large pink diamond. Archer takes note of the disclosure. He bails Solomon out of jail the next day with the promise that he will help Solomon reunite with his family if he will share the diamond with him.

American magazine journalist Maddy (Connelly) solidifies the men’s alliance when she agrees to help locate Solomon’s wife and children. She encourages Archer to see beyond his own selfish motives, if only briefly. Dicaprio's Archer is not immune to emotional persuasion after all. He's still human.

"Blood Diamond" is a treasure-pursuit movie where the life-or-death chase scenes keep you on the edge of your seat. Nearly every sequence erupts with a different type of violence. Like last year’s "The History of Violence," "Blood Diamond" is a study in various factors that generate bloodthirsty fury.

Edward Zwick leverages his characters’ tempers into a specific quality of cinematic energy that functions on emotional, intellectual, and physiological levels of empathy. Composer James Newton Howard ("King Kong") adds integral aural embellishments to the atmosphere and movement of the story without overpowering the material. A subtle reference to John Huston’s "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" in the film’s climax puts a grace note on the trajectory of Danny Archer’s value system. It also lends the story an unexpected lilt of humor.

Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly give pitch-perfect performances behind DiCaprio’s striking representation of a survivalist opportunist. It is unsettling to reflect on how Western instincts for survival, autonomy, and wealth compare with Archer’s attitude.

Here, Leonardo DiCaprio commands the screen away from his regular mentor Martin Scorsese. The fruits of that ongoing apprenticeship are nonetheless visible. DiCaprio is the Marlon Brando of our time. The job he does in "Blood Diamond" should earn him an Oscar — more so even than for his gritty performance in "The Departed." Danny Archer is a veritable anti-hero in a story of greed and brutality. DiCaprio plays him with a range of suppressed passion that carries us with him to the ends of the earth — no matter how brutal the surroundings.

Rated R. 138 mins.