I almost never catch these big time films when they make their initial debut, but keep their critical acclaim in the back of my mind when I'm trying to decide on what to watch next. "Blood Diamond" grabbed a lot of attention when it came out for it's stars DiCaprio and Hounsou, and I have to say, their team up was one of the more eclectic casting decisions I've come across. It reminded me a little of Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier in "The Defiant Ones", and if you think about it, that kind of described the main characters here as they pursue a large rare diamond amid rebel strife in the African country of Sierra Leone. My biggest takeaway from the film was just how brutal and uncivilized life can be in parts of the world we're unfamiliar with while we sit in our comfy living rooms watching stories like this unfold. As far as the action component of this picture goes, it's almost too intense with scene after scene engaging in hostile gunfights and brutal combat. The harrowing family ordeal of Hounsou's character is undeniably overwhelming, and given the odds it's miraculous that he makes it out of Africa alive, especially having found his son already brainwashed by his captors. This won't be a contender for a round the fireplace family movie night, but if you're in the mood for unrelenting action and suspense, you'll get your fill here.

"Blood Diamond" is the kind of action film that makes you think that 'a moment of love, even in a bad man, can give meaning to a life...'

The film opens in Sierra Leone, 1999 when Civil war rages for control of the diamond fields…According to devastating reports, these stones are being used with both rebels and government forces to purchase more weapons and finance civil war…

Danny Archer—crazy for diamonds like everybody else—believes this pink gem holds his ticket out of this godforsaken continent… He is a smuggler, a former mercenary and weapons trader from Zimbabwe who bribes all, and supplies arms to both sides… He gets Solomon Vandy—captured by government troops—out of jail only because he overhears that the fisherman might have found a clear massive stone about the size of a bird's egg…

Vandy—forced apart from his family and sent off to work as a slave in the minefields—has hided the enormous 100 carat diamond from his captors and buried it in a secret place within the jungle… His son Dia is taking away by a brainwashing militia called the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) turning him with lies, drugs, and liquor, into a cold-blooded murderer…

Danny makes a deal to help the noble fisherman find his family if Vandy will lead him to the diamond… The majority of the story is their journey across the war torn country…

Leonard DiCaprio is both ruthless and charming as the cynical soldier of fortune who knows an opportunity when it presents itself… But he also is aggressive and selfish willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants… He illustrates the black side of the dirty diamond trade… On his trek to find the stone, Archer's eyes are opened to some enduring values that surpass his own self-profit…

Djimon Hounsou eventually realizes that Danny's connections and money are his only hope… He plays a helpless character totally passionate as the resolving and fiercely determined father desperate to learn the fate of his family…

Connelly is an idealist who wishes to display corruption… She thinks that with Archer's help she can get a unique story line surrounding the civil war but also revealing corporate malfeasance and cover-up behind the diamond trade…

It is also good to mention Arnold Vosloo in the role of Colonel Coetzee, head of the army unit also trying to claim the diamond… He's a great character actor and remains a powerful presence and one of the screen's most efficient scene-stealer…

Nominated for five Oscars, "Blood Diamond" is an action, political adventure at its best!

One of the best films of the new century so far, Blood Diamond is both great action entertainment and a searing indictment of the exploitation of the African continent even years after the imperial European powers left their colonial possessions to fend for themselves. Africa, a continent wealthy in mineral resources with its peoples reduced to poverty at the mercy of tribal rivalries now armed with the automatic weapons of the former imperialists.

By the title you guess that what people are after are diamonds which is a trade to be sure that has its international regulations. It also has people willing to skirt and ignore those regulations in pursuit of the almighty profit. The brokers be they in London, New York, or Amsterdam pay plenty of money under the table for the gems which then finance various 'revolutionary' groups who have this game going with the governments. They don't really want to take power as Leonardo DiCaprio explains to journalist Jennifer Connelly because then they'd have to govern the country. Better just to keep the revolution going, get bought off until the rulers get rich enough and just go into exile and the revolutionaries are stuck with it. No Nelson Mandelas among this crowd. And the poor as typified by fisherman Djimon Hounsou suffer.

Chance and happenstance throw Hounsou in jail with Leonardo DiCaprio, a mercenary. Hounsou found and buried a large diamond the size of a bird's egg. DiCaprio learns of it when they're in jail together and the two make an alliance of convenience when there is a rebel attack and they're freed from prison. The bulk of the story concerns the two of them trying to retrieve that diamond to get out of Africa and on to a more settled life in Europe and/or America.

DiCaprio and Hounsou were nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor respectively. In different categories to be sure so they would not kill each other off in the voting. Sad to say neither of them won and that is a pity because I think they both deserved it.

Hounsou is best known as the slave leader Cinque who overtook the crew of the Amistad in that film and he also got an Oscar nomination for that film. As for Leonardo DiCaprio, for me this is the best film he's been in so far in his career. His character is absolutely flawless.

DiCaprio is from Rhodesia and lest one thing that whites did not suffer in the changing sub Saharan Africa of the last half of the last century when he tells his story to Jennifer Connelly, you will graphically realize why DiCaprio is the hard case he is. After about five or six generations of settlers there, DiCaprio felt Africa was his home as well. You will empathize with that point of view after that scene.

Blood Diamond got Oscar nominations for Sound and for Film Editing. Sadly it did not win anything that year. And it is beyond belief it was not considered for Best Picture.

There's enough action to satisfy those fans, but the real essence of Blood Diamond is the story it tells both of an exploited Africa and of the alliance/friendship of DiCaprio and Hounsou. Don't miss this one at all.