Bloody Gem of a Movie (Blood Diamond "Review")

Im going to keep this honest and simple. Im not here to criticise or judge a movie. All i want to do is categorise it and tell you in a few simple words whether its watchable or not, and if yes then by whom.

Leonardo di Caprio is the only pretty boy i can thin of who is appreciated as an actor. Brad Pitt rocked Fight Club, Tom Cruise is an awesome actor (just see Jerry Maguire, Top Gun, Last Samurai), but in recent times i can only think of Leo and Russell Crowe as hunks who got noticed
for their acting. Leo keeps up the good work in Blood Diamond. But to be brutally honest, Djimon Honsou is the one to watch out for in this movie. He is one AMAZING actor. Ive seen him in Four Feathers, Gladiator and The Island, but in this movie he totally rocks and almost manages to steal the show away from Di Caprio.

Blood Diamond is set in mid nineties, in war torn Africa, more specifically, Sierra Leone. Honsou (Solomon Wendy)is a fisherman and the patriarch of a family torn apart. Di Caprio (Danny Archer) is a bounty hunter/weapons dealer/diamond smuggler with loose morals - a man just looking to get by in a tough and uncompromising world. Di Caprio teams up with Honsou, who found and buried a rare pink diamond.
Archer views the diamond as his salvation, his way out of the hell hole that he is in. The issues are tackled well, without making the movie boring. Inspite of the fact that sides have been taken, in reality its still difficult to determine whos good or bad in conflict racked
African nations. What is certain (and portrayed with brutal honesty) is the fact that innocents are caught in the crossed fire. The action sequences and the battle horror portrayed are intense
and graphically real. The drama is riveting, and the long runtime(by hollywood standards) is barely noticed. The score complements the movie well.

Girls go watch it and see the origin of the precious trinkets that you covet so much. Guys go watch it for the action. Over all its damn good cinema.

Threads of Infatuation/Bonds of Love

People love to come up with quotes on love, many people like to compare love to a multitude of things and then some just say that love is a feeling that goes beyond words. I believe that love doesnt exist, as ive said it before. At least not how they describe it. That only exists between brothers, or parents and children or siblings or good friends. What you
get in a man/woman relationship at best is compatibility and tolerance. Infatuation has to be guarded against at all times. Its like a constant boxing match. Let your guard down and you get hit right in the jaw. Dizziness leads you to believe its the real thing.

Infatuation is something that you want to believe. Its a false impression that you desperately want to be true. "Love" is when realisation dawns that fantasies are just that...fantasies. Its not love its just a sense of surrender. You accept what you have and enjoy the compatibility
that you share. At this point, being the chauvnist that i am, let me clarify that i think this is mostly the girls fault. Ive seen people barely twenty and mostly under twentyfive becoming happy couples. I mean have
they really lived life enough to think theyve met their perfect match? Then they start dating and drifting away from friends and theres politics and backbiting. And when its time to get serious, theyve probably had too much of each other and are sick of each other, but they go on
with it, and ultimately have a crappy life.

The Importance of Being Scared

No one realises the value of a coward. A coward is the person who breaks down first. He is the first to relent in a battle of wills kind of situation. Just when you think that you are going to have to give in in, say, a group situation, a coward in teh group gives up before you have to. The second most heroic person might curse the hero who steals the limelight, but an almost complete coward will silently bless the coward.

Perception about whats brave and whats not has also changed. Stepping out and being the odd one out also takes a lot of courage unless you are a fool who doesnt care. The most common example that comes to mind is ragging. Its a tradition they say. Telling on the perpetrators is a strict no-no they say. In face of such opposition, telling on them, and standing up for whats right becomes the brave thing to do. Our country of course has had a dubious history for parading preposterous rituals in the name of tradition, so dont ever fall for that excuse.

Doing the brave thing, unless you happen to be a saint, is always a little hard, and thats how you know youve made the right choice.