Blood Diamond

GRITTY socio-political thrillers based on real world events seem to be the latest phase in modern motion picture history these days.
And if films like The Last King of Scotland and Blood Diamond are anything to go by, we can all look forward to some deeply thought provoking cinema in the months to come.
But that's assuming this is to your taste because Blood Diamond is an extremely violent and provocative experience and hardly the material for a lazy Sunday afternoon.
The film chronicles, albeit in a slightly sensationalised manner, the civil war that engulfed Sierra Leone in the 1990s.
No holds barred, director Edward Zwick reveals the true devastation of the conflict.
A country torn apart, marauding rebels indiscriminately murder anyone who stands in their way and much of the population are forced to become refugees.
What's even more shocking is the recruitment of children to fight the war and this subtle portrayal of innocence lost is stunning.
Amid the conflict, a South African mercenary, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, a Mende fisherman, Djimon Hounsou, and an American journalist, Jennifer Connelly, are drawn together to recover a rare pink diamond.
Danny is motivated by money, the diamond is Solomon's ticket to rescue his family and Maddy wants to break the story that could end the conflict - diamond corruption.
It really is a film that makes you think and it is also very easy to sympathise with the struggling journalist who is trying to change the world for the better.
Although it could have been shorter - and DiCaprio's accent was a bit dodgy - Blood Diamond is a bold movie with an important message about war, greed and corruption.