This is one of the movies that when you’ve watched, makes you feel that you can see the world a bit more clearly. It’s true. In a way it opens your eyes. In many ways actually.The film is set in Sierra Leone in
Africa documenting the civil war on account of the diamond mines discovered there. It takes us through the life a father whose family is ravaged by a military outfit and his struggle to get a normal life back. The movie starts with a bang showcasing the ugly truth that existed.
And when I say ugly, I mean horrific. We are taken to a village where jeeps of gunmen arrive suddenly open fire on every one and then catch the men who survived to either cut their hands off to stop them from voting or take them to work in mines. Now what is commendable is how successfully the director is able to portray the limits of ruthlessness that humans can go.
After seeing the way the area functions we do tend to believe it can’t get any worse. There are kids 10-12 years old who are given guns and made child soldiers that operate machine guns like toys. Violence is at it’s worst but that’s what makes this movie what it is. I have grown up on Discovery and
National geographic but haven’t ever felt as much a part of Africa as while watching this movie. It makes you wonder how it would feel to be a part of a continent which is the poorest, the most underdeveloped, where people millions of them live because of the United nations food program, where HIV affects upto 30% of the population in some countries, where any time a substance of value is found the country
goes into civil war.
The whole audience just watched silently and I could feel them feeling what I did.This is not something we watch in our regular movies. It’s not pretty and it still never feels boring or. It’s just reality plain & simple.Leonardo di Caprio gives a stellar perfomance as a smuggler from Rhodesia speaking in a
south african accent so fluently you tend to believe he is African. Jeniffer Connelly too is superb as a journalist who helps Leo and the afore mentioned father in the search of a Diamond and his son
respectively. The second half does get a bit dramatic with love brewing between Leo and Jen but it’s definitely not over done.You do feel sad for them when there’s a sad ending to this tale. Having said all this
the main lead is the father played by Djimin Housou who goes through anguish and desperation in right amounts at the right times.
He gives a very convincing performance as a poor African stuck in the chaos.I
feel privileged to have seen this movie and admire the fact that
subjects as strong yet foreign as these are taken by mainstream film
makers and hope it makes a difference.P.S. Even after saying all this I feel I haven’t done justice to the movie. Watch more here