Running time: 2hr 18 mins.

Go see “Blood Diamond”

I often avoid gambling $9 on comedies and dramas in the theater because you can enjoy them on the small screen almost as well. This movie doesn't have the kind of car chase action you'd need a big screen to appreciate, but I'm going to recommend you see it before it leaves the theater because it's that good a film. There is about as much action as you can pack into a drama. There aren't big plot twists but the characters are good and well acted so it creates suspense. I liked them enough to want a Hollywood ending, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I wouldn't get one.

What about the “R” Rating?

Pretty graphic, though it could be worse. Several people warned me that it was graphic but it wasn't that bad. I think what they were referring to is that sense of horror we feel at the atrocities being committed. We do get the feeling that we were shown more than we were.

This movie also breaks a cardinal rule of mine about placing children in violent situations. Let's face it a shoot-out between cops and robbers is violent but not automatically horrifying. Showing children being shot or run down is always horrifying. This movie is trying to make an important point though, and they show only enough to make that point.

Jennifer Connelly is hot in this movie, but clothed, so no nudity. There is sexual innuendo, and strong language but the violence is really the big issue in this film.

What if I hate Leonardo DiCaprio?

Hey me too, but there are some films where he shows why everyone makes such a big deal out of him. This film would suck if the actors hadn't been believable. They were all good.

Larger Story

The backdrop of war, the struggle for riches as a manor escape/salvation, the helplessness of struggling alone make a difference, should all ring familiar to us. The father's struggle to save his son, physically and emotionally, is awesome.

Without trying to guilt us this movie succeeds in placing the typical American couple getting engaged in the place of its South African merc. I think it's good for us to look down at our ring finger and wonder if someone died for that stone.

However, the beautiful statements in this movie involve repentance and redemption. While I disagree with one statement in the film, “people are people, it's our actions that make us good or bad,” I love the line that follows. “One moment of love can justify a life time of brutality.” Love can turn anyone's life around in an instant.