Blood Diamond (2006)

Edward Zwick loves the redemption of the seemingly unredemptive. The director of Glory and The Last Samurai continues stories of courageous acts of redemption by seriously flawed men during war time with the powerful and disturbing Blood Diamond. The story takes place in 1999 Sierra Leone during a brutal civil war and focuses around three main characters, a diamond smuggler, Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), a simple fisherman who's family gets torn apart in the civil war and Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly) who's a reporter looking for an inside source into diamond smuggling and its ties to the increasing arm sales in the region and the violence associated with the civil war.

When Solomon is forced into slave work looking for diamonds he finds a very rare large pink diamond. He sees it as leverage to getting his family back, Archer sees it as his way out of Africa and his failed life and Maddy sees it as the key to her story. They all see it as an opportunity for their own success and are willing to use each other as much as is required to get what they want. Through this journey the layers of the society and the effect of the civil war on the population is shown in unflinching frankness. Blood Diamond is often violent, but it uses that violence with great power. It shows children being taught to kill. It shows those children later slaughtering entire villages, then celebrating with drugs and alcohol, lead in this evil orgy by their captive leaders who effectively brainwash them into a life of extreme violence.

There are currently over 200,000 child soldiers in Africa and such tribal and internal genocide continues today. Blood Diamond, which focuses on the abuse of conflict diamonds, western greed and societal power struggles, shows to tremendous effect the complete disregard for human life in some areas of the world and how hopeless it all seems. Yet, like in Glory and The Last Samurai, Zwick offers light and hope in the form of individual heroism and sacrifice. If one person in a world of hate can understand selfessness, then maybe we can all be saved from our own greed.

Blood Diamond, like The Last Samurai, was hailed by critics yet under viewed by the mass audience. They are two very powerful, very important films about the power of redemption in our lives. Zwick has found his niche and with every subsequent film is becoming a master at presenting the eternal effect of salvation.