Movie Review: Blood Diamond

Despite a talented cast, an important subject and many powerful moments, "Blood Diamond" often does itself in with its own bleeding-heart liberalism.

Still, director Edward Zwick ("The Last Samurai," "Glory") has made a fast-moving, well-crafted film that, like most melodramas, is far too predictable, but, unlike most melodramas, somehow doesn't completely embarrass itself.

Here, he trains his camera on the blood (or conflict) diamond trade, so called because of the disastrous impact smuggling out illegal gems to sell to Western nations has had on certain African countries. Mercenaries sneak diamonds over the border to Liberia to be sold. The money is then channeled back over the border to finance different factions, some greedy, some ruthless, some both. Bling-bling for bling-bang, as the movie puts it.

Set in Sierra Leone in 1999, before the diamond industry made some corrective changes in 2003, the picture focuses on a pale pink rock roughly the size of a kumquat. A cynical, amoral smuggler named Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) --- he prefers soldier of fortune --- sees this blood diamond as his ticket out of an increasingly dangerous business. Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), the poor, honorable fisherman who found it and hid it, needs it to rescue his young son from the rebels who swooped down on his village, took his boy with them to be trained as a soldier and shipped Solomon to a mining camp. Intrepid journalist and "action junkie" Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly) doesn't want the gem per se, but she wants its story so she can write an expose about the dirty dealings of the diamond trade.

Freedom, family and a daring bit of investigative journalism. All worthy and not necessarily exclusive goals. So Danny and Solomon become partners of sorts --- the usual mismatched pair, one self-serving, the other virtuous --- with Maddy providing crucial access thanks to her press credentials and quick thinking. But can they find the diamond before blood-thirsty rebels or the avaricious mercenaries who once were Danny's colleagues?

"Blood Diamond" offers the stunning landscapes we've come to expect from movies filmed in Africa, along with some social glosses we don't. The Western influence is everywhere. For instance, rebel soldiers read Hustler magazine, carry boomboxes and give themselves nicknames like Captain Rambo.

If only Zwick didn't let his high-minded liberal impulses get the best of him . . .

Much as PETA has done for fur, he and screenwriter Charles Leavitt open our eyes to the ugliness that makes glittering engagement rings and red-carpet glitz possible. But their movie hammers the point home relentlessly via a plot that's both too long and too repetitive (talk, chase, talk, shoot-out, talk . . .).

The brutality is merciless --- hands lopped off, blindfolded boy soldiers turned into unwitting executioners. But it's also familiar. Not that we can ever be reminded of these horrors too often, but the starving children with swollen bellies and fly-covered eyes or the corpse-strewn city streets have become familiar, thanks to earlier films and TV news footage.

Finally, the ending, which means to bring some long-overdue censure to bear on the diamond traders (the industry is already doing damage control), feels tacked-on.

The always-solid Hounsou does what he can with a role that smacks too much of Man Friday/Noble Savage cliches. We keep waiting for his big moment, but, though he behaves heroically, he remains subordinate to DiCaprio.

The always gorgeous Connelly makes a sketchy role memorable with her flirty, alert performance.

But it's DiCaprio's movie, so much so he could be a contender in this year's Oscar race.

There's a little bit of James Bond in the way he keeps his cool under fire, killing people efficiently and with little remorse. But there's some Bogart, too, in his world-weary manner and antihero's need for redemption.

This is the DiCaprio we saw in "Catch Me If You Can" --- cocksure, street-smart and usually a step ahead of everyone else. "Blood Diamond" may not be a perfect movie, but it's a perfect vehicle for DiCaprio to finally shed some of that "Titanic" baby-faced teen-idol ballast.