Cauldron

Issue date: 4/2/07 Section: A & E

Media Credit: Warner Brothers Pictures Deadly Beautiful the diamond from which the film draws its name is outshone by Dijmon Hounsou's as Solomon Vandy.

The diamond engagement ring represents one of society's few universal "Do's." Typically frugal men drop half a year's salary on it and even women who never wear jewelry still dream of it sparkling on their hand.

I'll admit it, walking into the theater I was one of them. Walking out, I was thinking that rhinestones were a perfectly acceptable alternative.

The film's message-that diamonds are a racket, purchased at the expense of (among other things) children's hands-is, if not radical, at least unpopular. The film's action, however, was surprisingly mainstream.

I actually found myself (gasp) enjoying the film because of its adventure and not solely because of its intellectual and cultural import. By the same token, if you are only interested in Africa epics in the tradition of "Hotel Rwanda," this movie is probably not for you.

Don't get me wrong, the film is one of the most disturbing that I have watched all year. The violence in it is raw: unsettling, not so much because of its graphic nature, but because of the reactions of the characters who witness it.

I have never seen abject terror so vividly depicted. The film pulls no punches with its message, but still manages to keep the audience entertained.

The plot follows the story of Solomon Vandy, played by Dijmon Hounsou, an African fisherman who is kidnapped by gangsters and forced to work in a diamond mine. There he finds an enormous pink diamond which he hides.

Then, due to a series of rather coincidental circumstances, ends up on the run from gangsters who are after it. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Danny Archer a likeable diamond smuggler, connected with a major American diamond firm, who learns of the diamond and promises, in exchange for half of the profit, to get Vandy and his family to safety.

The acting was spectacular. DiCaprio delivered another solid performance as Archer. The stand-out star, however, was Dijmon Hounsou. His performance was so heartfelt, so emotionally wrenching. Honestly, he should have won the Oscar, he was robbed.

Visually, the movie was stunning, filled with rolling African plains and hills so verdant and earth so red that they looked good to eat. This imagery, juxtaposed against the squalor of the diamond mines, the brutality of most of the characters, and the glint and sparkle of the blood diamonds, did much to further the movie's message.

On the whole it was a great movie. It was not, however, a great date movie, especially if you lovebirds are thinking of getting engaged.

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