"Both great thing, the movie and the dvd."
While diamonds are the obvious subject of Blood Diamond, they are also meant to be a symbol representing all of the coveted resources of Africa's abundant fertility, raped by Western powers over the centuries. Yes, Blood Diamond is preachy, but it's a sermon we need to hear.
THE MOVIE
Much has been written about the value of so-called "message movies" since the release of Blood Diamond. Some feel that films should carry the burden of explicit moral invectives while others want their entertainment unmolested and significance free. Blood Diamond is a symbiosis of the two opinions, a film with an ethical center that, for some overwhelms any sort of entertainment value.
Part encyclopedia and part U.N. report, Blood Diamond is certainly bellowing from atop a very large soapbox. And yes, it does, at times, sacrifice its worthy story and narrative velocity for spreadsheets and facts and figures. However, to relegate it to a simple "message movie" is to also miss out on an all-out action picture. Edward Zwick channels Phillip Noyce's Clear and Present Danger in crafting scenes of anxiety-ridden peril. Not since the terrorist attack on the American SUVs in Noyce's Tom Clancy adaptation have I seen such a bold sequence of imminent catastrophe staged in such a claustrophobic space.
The acting in this film is superb. Jennifer Connely, who is finally getting the sort of recognition every 30-something year old guy who fell in love with her in The Rocketeer knew she's always deserved, is convincing as a sassy, ideological driven reporter on the edge of burnout. But the real credit goes to the film's Oscar nominated actors. Djimon Hounsou is terrific as a fisherman thrust into a conflict beyond his comprehension. All radiant anguish, he discovers a colossal diamond only to be caught in a crossfire between vicious militias and a greedy smuggler. The greedy smuggler is Leonardo DiCaprio who has finally grown into a man. As with his character in The Departed, DiCaprio is self-assured and confident, easily carrying the film on his broad cinematic shoulders. His South African accent is unassailable as are his acting chops as a charismatic yet brutally unsympathetic diamond smuggler out to get his cut no matter who gets hurt in the process.
Blood Diamond is full of the sort of sweeping vistas and melodrama that Edward Zwick (Glory, Legends of the Fall, The Last Samurai) does so well. While not a great film, Blood Diamond is a very good one - equal parts history lesson, political diatribe and action blitz. And though it may preach to a fault, its story of an Africa riddled by civil war, genocide, the abduction of child soldiers and the consumption of indigenous resources is a story we all need to hear more, not less, of.
SOUND + VISION
Blood Diamond is presented in 2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and comes equipped with English, Spanish and French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround with an additional English Dolby Digital 2.0. Subtitles are available in English, Spanish and French. The DVD looks and sounds terrific. These days, unless it is thrown together overnight, most modern DVDs are as pristine and crisp as you might imagine they should be. Blood Diamond is no exception.
PACKAGING/ LAYOUT?
Blood Diamond is presented in a standard plastic keepcase (with the now-perfunctory matching cardboard sleeve - stop, in the name of all that is environmentally holy, stop!). The cover art is in attractive grouping of the leads. The backside includes more artwork, a synopsis, the bonus feature list, and the disc's technical specs.
The menus are unanimated, but very attractive with large, bold, easy to navigate markers. There are no liner inserts.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Commentary by director Edward Zwick - Zwick delivers an honest and informative commentary in his usual understated way. Lots of history both of the production and the events that inspired it. Zwick's low-key delivery may throw off the less adoring fans.
• Blood on the Stone (50 min.) - African journalist Sorious Samura, who reported on the Sierra Leone firestorm and even lost family members to it, worked as an advisor on the film and here presents a compelling documentary meant, not to entertain you, but to shake you. The Kimberley Process, put in place after the civil war to curb the sale of blood diamonds, claims to have almost eradicated all illegal diamond activity. But is that true? Samura has his doubts and posing as a diamond middleman, decides to find out for himself. The result is an insider's look into how a diamond moves from a mine in Africa to your hand in a jewelry boutique. Reveling back breaking work (on average, five tons of earth are excavated by hand for a single karat), blatant government graft, smuggler coercion and shocking American complicity, Samura reveals that $36 million dollars worth-a quarter of all diamonds coming from Sierra Leone-are smuggled out illegally. (Beware: some images in this featurette are very graphic.)
• Becoming Archer (8:30 min.) - What could have been a fascinating and much-desired look into how star Leonardo DiCaprio created his almost wholly unsympathetic South African character, this featurette almost entirely eschews his dialect training and personal study under real drug smugglers, to focus instead on the military aspects of his schooling.
• Journalists on the Front Line (5 min.) - This featurette, on how Jennifer Connely found her character, is only slightly better than DiCaprio's companion piece. She notes how she spent time with several female journalists who reported from war zones, putting themselves on the line for the stories we need to hear.
• Inside the Siege of Freetown (10:30 min.) - Recreating the devastating attack on Freetown, in which rebel soldiers killed thousands of innocent civilians in the capitol city, was not an easy task for the production department. They had to tread a fine line between making the attack too weak as to lose any power whatsoever and making it too strong and risk losing the audience. Months of research and preparation went into the visual effect and stunt-heavy segment and to listen to the cast and crew, they were all quite pleased with the result.
. Music Video "Shine On Em" by Nas
. Theatrical Trailer
DVD Film Score: B+
DVD Sound + Vision Score: A
DVD Packaging/ Layout Score: B+
DVD Special Features Score: B+
DVD Overall Score: B+
DVD Release Dates
1 Comments
1 Comments