Blood Diamond (film)
| Blood Diamond | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Edward Zwick |
| Produced by | Marshall Herskovitz Graham King Paula Weinstein Edward Zwick |
| Written by | Charles Leavitt |
| Starring | Leonardo DiCaprio Jennifer Connelly Djimon Hounsou Michael Sheen Arnold Vosloo |
| Music by | James Newton Howard |
| Cinematography | Eduardo Serra |
| Editing by | Steven Rosenblum |
| Studio | The Bedford Falls, Virtual Studios Initial Entertainment Group |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) |
|
| Running time | 143 minutes |
| Country | United States Germany |
| Language | English Mende Krio Afrikaans |
| Budget | $100 million[1] |
| Box office | $171,407,179[1][2] |
Blood Diamond is a 2006 American political war thriller film co-produced and directed by Edward Zwick, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou.[3] The title refers to blood diamonds, which are diamonds mined in African war zones and sold to finance conflicts, and thereby profit warlords and diamond companies across the world.
Set during the Sierra Leone Civil War in 1996–2001, the film shows a country torn apart by the struggle between government soldiers and rebel forces.[4] It also portrays many of the atrocities of that war, including the rebels' amputation of people's hands to discourage them from voting in upcoming elections.
The film's ending, in which a conference is held concerning blood diamonds, refers to an actual meeting that took place in Kimberley, South Africa in 2000 and led to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which seeks to certify the origin of rough diamonds in order to curb the trade in conflict diamonds. The film received mixed but generally favorable reviews.
Contents[show] |
Plot[edit]
It is 1999 and the troubled West African nation of Sierra Leone is ravaged by major political unrest. Rebel factions such as the Revolutionary United Front frequently terrorize the open countryside, intimidating Mende locals and enslaving many to harvest diamonds, which fund their increasingly successful war effort. one such unfortunate is fisherman Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), from Shenge, who has been assigned to a workforce overseen by a ruthless warlord, Captain Poison (David Harewood).
On a particularly tense morning, Vandy discovers an enormous pink diamond in the riverbank and buries it in the soft earth. Captain Poison learns of the stone, but before he can act on this knowledge the area is raided by government security forces. Both men are subsequently incarcerated in Freetown along with Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), a white Zimbabwean gunrunner jailed while attempting to smuggle diamonds into Liberia for corrupt South African mining executive Rudolph van de Kaap (Marius Weyers).
Having managed to learn of the pink diamond's existence, Archer arranges to have Vandy freed from detention. He then travels to Cape Town, meeting with his former military contacts, including Colonel Coetzee (Arnold Vosloo) - an Afrikaner late of the apartheid-era South African Defence Force. Archer remarks that he hopes to abscond with Vandy's stone and leave the Dark Continent forever, but Coetzee indicates that his lost stake in Archer's botched Liberian operation entitles him to the diamond as compensation. The former returns to Sierra Leone, locates Vandy, and offers to help him find his family if he will recover his prize.
Meanwhile, RUF insurgents initiate an escalation of hostilities. Freetown falls to their advance while Vandy's son Dia (Kagiso Kuypers) is among those rounded up to serve as a child soldier under a liberated Captain Poison. Archer and Vandy narrowly escape to Guinea, where they plan to infiltrate Kono with an American journalist, Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly), in exchange for giving her inside information on the illicit diamond trade. Coetzee and his private army also turn up in the region, having been contracted by local authorities to repulse the renewed rebel offensive.
While Bowen is evacuated with her story, the two men set out for Captain Poison's former encampment on their own. Dia, now stationed with the RUF garrison there, is confronted - although he refuses to acknowledge his father. Archer radios the site's coordinates to Coetzee, who directs an air strike via an Mi-24 helicopter gunship. Vandy locates Captain Poison and decapitates him with a shovel while attacking mercenaries rout the warlord's surviving men. Coeztee then forces a reluctant Vandy to produce the diamond, but is killed by Archer, who has deduced that he will have them both eliminated once their usefulness has expired. Dia holds them both at gunpoint, although Vandy convinces him of his own retained innocence and the two resume their previous bond.
While escaping from Coetzee's vengeful followers, Archer collapses with a lethal injury and surrenders the stone to Vandy, instructing him to take it for his family. Vandy and his son rendezvous with a charter pilot, Nabil (Jimi Mistry), who flies them to safety while Archer makes a final phone call to Maddy Bowen, charging her to assist Vandy. He dies peacefully, fulfilling Coetzee's prediction that the smuggler would never leave his African home.
Shortly afterwards, Vandy, who is now living in the United Kingdom, meets with representatives of van de Kaap, who wishes to acquire his jewel. Bowen photographs the deal for publication in her article detailing the trade in conflict gems and exposes van de Kaap's criminal actions. Meanwhile, Vandy's guest appearance at a conference on "blood diamonds" in Kimberley is met with a standing ovation.
Cast[edit]
- Leonardo DiCaprio as Danny Archer
- Djimon Hounsou as Solomon Vandy
- Jennifer Connelly as Maddy Bowen
- Kagiso Kuypers as Dia Vandy
- Arnold Vosloo as Colonel Coetzee
- Antony Coleman as Cordell Brown
- Benu Mabhena as Jassie Vandy
- Anointing Lukola as N'Yanda Vandy
- David Harewood as Captain Poison
- Basil Wallace as Benjamin Kapanay
- Jimi Mistry as Nabil
- Michael Sheen as Rupert Simmons
- Marius Weyers as Rudolf Van de Kaap
- Stephen Collins as Ambassador Walker
- Ntare Mwine as M'Ed
- Ato Essandoh as Captain Rambo
- Tony Kgoroge as the Liberian Army Officer
- Ade M'Cormack as R.U.F. Trainer
- Gaurav Chopra as French journalist
Release[edit]
Critical response[edit]
Blood Diamond has received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 62% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 211 reviews, with an average score of 6.3/10, making the film a "fresh" on the website's rating system.[5] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 64, based on 39 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[6] Claudia Puig of the USA Today gave the film a positive review, stating that "Blood Diamond is a gem in a season with lots of worthy movies." Puig also praised DiCaprio's acting and noting that "it is also the first time the boyish actor has truly seemed like a man on film."[7] Peter Rainer of the Christian Science Monitor also gave the film a positive review, he, like Puig, also praised DiCaprio's acting, stating: "As strong as Blood Diamond is in its best moments, I wish it had been even harder-edged. DiCaprio is remarkable - his work is almost on par with his performance this year in The Departed."[8]
William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer gave the film a positive review, stating: "Zwick's narrative skills keep us hooked on the story, and the first-rate production values and imaginative use of locations (it was shot in Mozambique) give the film an enthralling scope and epic sweep."[9] Damon Wise of the Empire magazine gave the film four-stars-out-of-five, he stated: "Great performances, provocative ideas and gripping action scenes fall prey to Hollywood logic and pat storytelling in the final hour."[10] David Edelstein of the New York magazine also gave the film a positive review, stating: "Given that the movie doesn't have a single narrative surprise--you always know where it's going and why, commercially speaking, it's going there--it's amazing how good Blood Diamond is. I guess that's the surprise."[11] Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post also praised DiCaprio's acting, saying that he "who between this outing and The Departed has undergone a major growth spurt this year." About the film itself, she stated: "For its flaws, Blood Diamond is a gem, if only for being an unusually smart, engaged popcorn flick."[12]
James Berardinelli of the ReelViews gave the film three-out-of-four-stars, stating: "It's a solid performance from Leonardo DiCaprio, who has grown into this sort of "gritty" role and is more believable after having been seen dancing on the dark side in The Departed."[4] Dana Stevens of the Slate magazine is also among those who gave the film a positive review, she stated: "Blood Diamond is a by-the-numbers message picture, to be sure... But the director, Edward Zwick, is craftsman enough that the pace never slackens, the chase scenes thrill, and the battle scenes sicken. And if it makes viewers think twice about buying their sweethearts that hard-won hunk of ice for Christmas, so much the better."[13] Ty Burr of the Boston Globe, after giving the film a positive review, stated: "As an entry in the advocacy-entertainment genre, in which glamorous movie stars bring our attention to the plight of the less fortunate, Blood Diamond is superior to 2003's ridiculous Beyond Borders while looking strident and obvious next to last year's The Constant Gardener."[14]
Pete Vonder Haar of the Film Threat gave the film a mixed review, stating: "It's a reasonably entertaining actioner, and Zwick doesn't shy away from depicting violence or the horrors of war, but as a social statement it falls a little short. And emeralds are prettier anyway."[15] Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle also gave the film a mixed review, he stated: "While the film never quite reaches the emotional peaks it so obviously seeks to scale, Zwick's film is still potent enough to save you three months salary."[16] Nathan Lee of the Village Voice, like Vonder Haar and Savlov, also gave the film a mixed review, stating that "De Beers can relax; the only indignation stirred up by Blood Diamond won't be among those who worry about where their jewelry came from, but with audiences incensed by facile politics and bad storytelling."[17] Scott Tobias of the A.V. Club gave the film "C", he stated: "Much like Zwick's Glory and The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond strives to be an "important" film while stopping well short of being genuinely provocative and artistically chancy."[18] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film a negative review, stating that "director Edward Zwick tried to make a great movie, but somewhere in the process he forgot to make a good one."[19]
Box office performance[edit]
Blood Diamond opened on December 8, 2006 in the United States and Canada in 1,910 theaters.[1] The film ranked at #5 on its opening weekend, accumulating $8,648,324, with a per theater average of $4,527.[20] The film's five-day gross was $10,383,962.[21]
The film dropped down to #7 on its second weekend, accumulating $6,517,471 in a 24.6% drop from its first weekend, and per theater average of $3,412.[22] By its third weekend it dropped down even more to #12 and made $3,126,379, $1,628 per theater average.[23]
Blood Diamond went on to gross $57,377,916 in the United States and Canada and $114,029,263 overseas. In total, the film has grossed $171,407,179 worldwide.[1]
Accolades[edit]
Music[edit]
| Blood Diamond: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Film score by James Newton Howard | ||||
| Released | December 19, 2006 | |||
| Recorded | 2006 | |||
| Genre | Contemporary classical | |||
| Length | 61:26 | |||
| Label | Varèse Sarabande | |||
| Producer | James Newton Howard | |||
| James Newton Howard chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| SoundtrackNet |    |
Blood Diamond: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the film of the same name, released on December 19, 2006 by Varèse Sarabande. It was composed by James Newton Howard, and won the "Soundtrack of the Year" at the 2008 Classical BRIT Awards.
Track listing[edit]
| No. | Title | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Blood Diamond Titles" | 1:32 | |
| 2. | "Crossing the Bridge" | 1:41 | |
| 3. | "Village Attack" | 1:52 | |
| 4. | "RUF Kidnaps Dia" | 3:02 | |
| 5. | "Archer & Solomon Hike" | 1:55 | |
| 6. | "Maddy & Archer" | 1:56 | |
| 7. | "Solomon Finds Family" | 2:09 | |
| 8. | "Fall of Freetown" | 4:45 | |
| 9. | "Did You Bury It?" | 1:36 | |
| 10. | "Archer Sells Diamond" | 1:40 | |
| 11. | "Goodbyes" | 2:40 | |
| 12. | "Your Son is Gone" | 1:21 | |
| 13. | "Diamond Mine Bombed" | 4:31 | |
| 14. | "Solomon's Helping Hand" | 1:11 | |
| 15. | "G8 Conference" | 2:36 | |
| 16. | "Solomon & Archer Escape" | 2:12 | |
| 17. | "I Can Carry You" | 1:30 | |
| 18. | "Your Mother Loves You" | 2:24 | |
| 19. | "Thought I'd Never Call?" | 3:56 | |
| 20. | "London" | 2:38 | |
| 21. | "Solomon Vandy" | 2:11 | |
| 22. | "Ankala" (Performed by Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars) | 4:12 | |
| 23. | "Baai" (Performed by Emmanuel Jal with Abd El Gadir Salim) | 4:37 | |
| 24. | "When Da Dawgs Come Out to Play" (Performed by Bai Burea, featuring Masta Kent and Bullet Rhymes) | 3:19 | |
Total length: | 61:26 | ||
Home media[edit]
Blood Diamond was released on DVD in region 1 format on March 20, 2007.[25] Both a single-disc and a two-disc version are available.[26][27] High Definition versions on HD DVD and Blu-ray have also been released with a R rating in the United States and a rating of MA in Australia.[citation needed]
The film sold 3,620,038 DVD units and grossed $62,723,329.[25]
'TV영화관' 카테고리의 다른 글
| Sunday in the Park with George (0) | 2013.06.20 |
|---|---|
| Interrupted Melody (0) | 2013.06.18 |
| The Iron Mistress (0) | 2013.06.09 |
| Mackenna's Gold (0) | 2013.06.09 |
| National Lampoon's European Vacation (0) | 2013.06.08 |