Blood Diamond (2-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)

Blood Diamond was far from a box-office success as it brought in only $57 million domestically on a budget of over $100 million. These numbers may come as a surprise as the box-art boasts five Academy Award nominations and a cast that includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly. I am not entirely sure why it did so poorly but I can only assume that the whole spin on how the diamond trade is such bad business just didn’t appeal to Americans. Unfortunately for this movie that is only a small piece of the puzzle and never really shoved down your throat. Blood Diamond is one hell of a movie and it actually has DiCaprio’s best performance of 2006, even better than The Departed.

DiCaprio stars as smuggler Danny Archer with his eyes set firmly on a large pink diamond that could earn him passage out of Africa and out of the dirty business of the illicit diamond trade. He learns of this diamond through Solomon Vandy (Hounsou), a Mende fisherman that has seen his son taken by the RUF and his family sent to a refugee camp. Solomon found and buried the diamond while working in the diamond mines and is now teamed with Archer and American journalist Maddy (Connelly) in an effort to find the diamond, save Solomon’s family and get Maddy the story that will expose the illicit diamond trade.

Blood Diamond is more of an action-adventure piece than a documentary style story exposing the dirty laundry of Africa’s diamond industry, but this DVD makes sure to address the diamond problems. The second disc is where you will find a group of featurettes and documentaries, only one of which is worth watching.

Out of the four featurettes/documentaries on the second disc three are pretty much your typical, generic behind-the-scenes looks at the making of the film and so forth. Of those three the one titled “Inside the Siege of Freetown” is probably the most interesting as you will learn that it was actually modeled off a real event and it is quite cool to see how the pulled it all off. However, the real eye opener is the “Blood on the Stone” documentary led by Sorious Samura who served as the film’s consultant and overall inspiration.

Sorious leads you through Africa and to New York exposing how nasty the diamond industry really is; how easy it is to smuggle diamonds out of Sierra Leone and how easy it is to get them to New York and sell them without the proper certificates, no questions asked. You will meet young kids that served as child soldiers as they break down while remembering some of the horrible things they did. You will meet a man that has worked 20 years working the diamond mines and has managed only 15 diamonds in that time. When the miners are asked about the illicit trade of diamonds and the certification process known as the Kimberly Process they have no idea what Sorious is talking about and only respond saying, “A starving stomach doesn’t have ears.” It is a sad story and to think about buying diamonds after watching it is a little tough.

The first disc also includes a commentary by director Ed Zwick and the theatrical trailer and the only other feature on disc two is the “Shine on ‘Em” music video by Nas. Overall I was entertained by the features and educated by the “Blood on the Stone” documentary, but the odds I ever watch any of them again are slim, that is besides showing the “Blood on the Stone” documentary to any girlfriend I may have so I can explain to her why I can’t buy her a diamond. Woo hoo!

Blood Diamond is a must own DVD for the movie alone, it is one of the best of 2006 and certainly worth multiple viewings. However, the 2-disc edition is not necessarily a must purchase, you could probably get by just fine with the single disc edition.