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Djimon Hounsou and Leonardo DiCaprio in crisis on the poster for Edward Zwick's Blood Diamond
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A white Zimbabwean, Archer, smuggles conflict diamonds out of Sierra Leone, but now crosses tracks with an attractive journalist and a local man, whose family disappears in the country's civil war. I am generous in giving the flawed Blood Diamond these 3 ♥'s. The film is a mix of a Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1942)-like character in a Romancing the Stone (1984)-like adventure with real, African horrors behind every corner of the tale. The film is depressing and overly long at 143 minutes. And predictable most of the way. But the main problem is Leonardo DiCaprio's (The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)) character, our defeatist 'hero', who in real life is a really terrible crook. He is very hard to accept as 'our guy', and the script doesn't seem to acknowledge this. The worst scene is the one in which SPOILER he orders an air bombing and thereafter jumps heroically around amongst the deadly bombs. - Pretty infuriating stuff! Djimon Hounsou's (The Tempest (2010)) character would have been much better suited as the protagonist. As it is, he provides the film's few moving moments, albeit soaked in overwrought pathos. Blood Diamond cannot withstand scrutiny altogether and is fundamentally unsatisfying: Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind (2001)) is never with DiCaprio, which is a letdown; the climax is, - most anticlimactically, - SPOILER a phone conversation among the two of them(!); and the final scene of Hounsou getting hailed in Europe by a room full of white people is unbelievable: Where the !Zx?=!#! is his family? In Sierra Leone? Someplace else in Africa? I give Blood Diamond its full 3rd ♥ just for giving attention to some important topics; child soldiers and blood diamonds. But it is still irrevocably a bad movie. It is directed by Edward Zwick (The Last Samurai (2003)), who is now engaged in Pawn Sacrifice (2015), a film about a famous chess game (really!) and The American Can (2015), a Katrina survival drama with Will Smith.
The chains of bondage are central on this history-indicating poster for Steven Spielberg's Amistad
Amistad is the true story of a ship full of African slaves, who arrive in America after a rebellion on their ship the Amistad, whereupon several actors claim to own them. They end up being freed and pose a wedge in the relationship between the Northern and Southern states of their new country.
Amistad is marred by over-length and an overly sentimental handling of its subject. An Oscar-nominated Anthony Hopkins (Thor (2011)) as ex-president give a long speech over John Williams' (The Witches of Eastwick (1987)) score in the Supreme Court that is very protracted and grand, but essentially makes no sense. The film can still be enjoyed for its great cast which also includes Morgan Freeman (Ben-Hur (2016)), Stellan Skarsgård (The Killing Gene (2007)), Xander Berkeley (The Gadfly (2011, short)), Pete Postlethwaite (Rat (2000)) and Anna Paquin (Bellevue (2017, TV-series)). Amistad is also often funny, but is no The Shawshank Redemption (1994) or 12 Years a Slave (2013). Despite Ohioan master filmmaker Steven Spielberg (Firefly (1964)) reportedly being cautious about returning to a black rights issue drama after his 11 times Oscar-nominated The Color Purple (1985) had been criticized by black audiences, Amistad was a hurried production right at the birth of DreamWorks and just prior to his shooting war masterpiece Saving Private Ryan (1998). The film, Spielberg's 18th feature, is written by David Franzoni (Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986)).
Cost: 36 mil. $ Box office: 44.2 mil. $ (North America only) = Uncertain
[Amistad premiered 4 December (Washington D.C.) and runs 154 minutes. Shooting took place in Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, California, including Los Angeles, Connecticut and Boston, Massachusetts from February - April 1997. The film opened #5, behind fellow new release Scream 2, holdover hit Flubber and new releases For Richer or Poorer and Home Alone 2, to a 4.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 44.2 mil. $. It left the top 5 after its first weekend but managed to climb a weekend several weeks later to #4. The film's business internationally is regrettably unreported, and it is doubtful that it was popular enough abroad to render it a theatrical success. The film was heavily criticized for its many blatant historical inaccuracies and misrepresenting narrative. It was nevertheless nominated for 4 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Supporting Actor (Hopkins) to Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting, Cinematography (Janusz Kaminski) to Russell Carpenter for Titanic, Costume Design also to Titanic, and Score also to Titanic (composer James Horner). It was also nominated for 4 Golden Globes, a David di Donatello award, won a European Film award and was nominated for a Grammy, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. Spielberg returned with Saving Private Ryan (1998). Hopkins returned in The Mask of Zorro (1998); Freeman in Hard Rain (1998); Matthew McConaughey (Gold (2016)) in The Newton Boys (1998) and Djimon Hounsou (Charlie's Angels (2019)) in The Small Hours (1997). Amistad is certified fresh at 77 % with a 6.91/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of Amistad?
