Movie Review: Boy

The way we construct our images of people when we can’t see them is always dangerous. When the reality appears, it can be devastating. The reality is rarely, if ever, as we imagine and we are often disappointed and struggle to come to terms with that reality.This is the central theme of the delightful New Zealand movie Boy written and directed by Taika Waititi.

Boy (Janes Rolleston) lives on a farm with grandmother, younger brother, Rocky (who believes he has magical powers which killed his Mum), and a goat called Leaf. When Gran leaves for a week to attend a funeral Boy is left in charge. Boy’s father, Alamein (played by Taika Waititi) turns up after being released from prison. He and his mates have formed a gang of three and are looking for some money from a previous robbery buried in one of the paddocks of the farm. During the absence of his father, Boy has imaginatively built his father into a hero of larger-than-life proportions. Of course, the reality is very different than Boy’s larger-than-life picture and, while he struggles to maintain the wish he has for his father to really be a hero, the reality gradually sinks in that his father is nothing more than a loser.

Boy is a delightful story filled with humour and sadness, joy and pain. The soundtrack tends to dominate a bit at times, but the characters are quirky and endearing and the struggle to come to terms with reality are wonderfully represented. The cinematography is just as one would expect from a New Zealand landscape but the buildings reflect the themes of the movie as they undermine the beauty of nature — the tension between idealised fantasy and everyday reality are a constant undercurrent in the film.

The poster for the movie is iconic of the story — innocence, beauty, humour. It’s a heart-warming narrative that takes you through heartache before a beginning maturity that can tackle reality headon arrives for Boy. The movie’s unassuming nature makes it unlikely to appear in mainstream cinemas. But, if it comes to a cinema near you, don’t miss it.

 

Technorati Tags: "Boy",movies

Recent DVD Releases and Recommendations

Released: 2009

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New Moon

Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Anna Kendrick, Justin Chon, Taylor Lautner, Jackson Rathbone,

Released: 2009

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The Lovely Bones

Mark Wahlberg, Susan Sarandon, Michael Imperioli, Rose McIver, Reece Ritchie, Nikki SooHoo,

My review

Released: 2009

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Where the Wild Things Are

Max Records, Max Pfeifer, Joshua Jay, Catherine Keener, Mark Ruffalo, Paul Dano,

Released: 2009

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A Serious Man

Michael Stuhlbarg, Fred Melamed, Aaron Wolff, Peter Breitmayer, David Kang, Jack Swiler,

Released: 2008

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The Black Balloon

Rhys Wakefield, Toni Collette, Gemma Ward, Sam Fraser, Oliver Brookes, Bradley Orford,

Released: 2012

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John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Oliver Platt, Woody Harrelson, Liam James, Zlatko Buric,

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Movie Review: Hunger

It has been estimated that 20 million people die from hunger each year. Some of these are the result of poverty. Some are the result of natural disasters such as famine. Some are the result of inhuman treatment. But some people die from hunger by choice. Bobbie Sands was one of those people.

The  debut movie Hunger from Steve McQueen is an absolutely shocking, confronting depiction of the last 6 weeks of Bobbie Sands' (Michael Fassbender) hunger strike in the early 1980s. Bobbie was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) member who was incarcerated in the infamous Maze Prison in Northern Ireland. IRA prisoners would refuse to wear the prison uniform so would live naked except for a blanket. During Bobbie's imprisonment, the prisoners were also engaged in a no-wash protest and would smear their faeces over the walls with some painting with it.

Bobbie Sands was committed to the task of fighting for political prisoner status for IRA members and decided to express this commitment by going on a hunger strike. Eventually, he died for his cause.

Hunger opens with a prison guard, Raymond Lohan (Stuart Graham), getting ready to leave home to go to work. After finishing his breakfast, he walks outside, checks his car for any dangers, looks up and down the street carefully, before getting in and driving to work. He arrives at work and he seems to distance himself from his colleagues and somehow appears different. But it is not long before Raymond descends into the same behaviour as his colleagues — brutalising, torturing, and humiliating the prisoners.

The story then shifts focus to Bobbie Sands as he is admitted to the prison, stripped of his clothes, and inhumanely treated day after day. Convinced of the righteousness of his cause, Bobbie decides to go on a hunger strike and we witness his deterioration until he dies.

Hunger is a highly disturbing look at the conditions and treatment experienced by Bobbie and his fellow inmates. But the film is superbly rendered. There is almost no dialogue — we just watch what happens with the natural sounds which, along with the confronting visuals, provokes deep responses in the viewer.

The brutality and humiliation of Hunger is almost too much to bear. Then, in the middle of the story, McQueen has a 20 minute single take (a claimed world record) where the camera just sits still while we witness a dialogue between Sands and his visiting priest. The priest tries to convince Bobbie not to go ahead with the strike but we listen to Bobbie's absolutely certain rationalisation of what he plans to do. This dialogue is a welcome relief after what we have had to witness and we begin to understand where Bobbie is coming from in his decision to give up life for his beliefs. But at the end of the dialogue, we are thrust back into the horror of Sands' journey to death.

Hunger does not really explore the political background that has led to the incarceration of these prisoners. Instead, McQueen has chosen to force us to just watch as humans abuse other humans. It tells the story of these prisoners from a perspective that is rare. A lot of movies have been made about the troubles in Ireland. But nothing like this one. Michael Fassbender is incredible as Bobbie Sands. According to one of the prisoners who is depicted in the film, Fassbender is 'frighteningly real'. Apparently, he went on a medically supervised diet for this role — he must have been on the very brink of serious illness and those around him were concerned for his welfare according to comments on the Internet Movie Databsase.

When Hunger  was shown at Cannes, there were walkouts as well as standing ovations. This movie will not be for everyone. It is explicit in its brutality and watching it is like being punched in the guts over and over. It's a very dark story but significant. It is the story of a real human person who wasn't treated as one and, to see it from this perspective, made me appreciate the lengths to which someone will go in support of a cause they believe in — even to death. What makes it even more disturbing is the occasional overlay of the insensitive words that Margaret Thatcher spoke publicly in response to the prisoner's protest.

This is a brilliant film — but be warned: it is not easy to watch and it takes a level of courage to keep your eyes on the screen. It is an important moment in history that makes us appreciate the personal dimension of political conflict.

My Rating: **** (out of 5)

AUS: MA15+

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Movie Review: Lars and the Real Girl

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Who would have thought that a movie about a guy who falls in love with a sex doll would be anything worth watching. But Craig Gillespie's Lars and the Real Girl is a superb, deeply moving story that had me totally engaged and riveted to the screen.

Lars (Ryan Gosling) is a recluse who lives out in the garage owned by his brother, Gus (Paul Schneider), and Gus's wife, Karin (Emily Mortimer). Lars goes to work and stays to himself in his little cubicle rarely talking to anyone. Margo (Kelli Garner) admires him from a distance while Lars is completely oblivious to her interest in him.

Lars has shut everyone out, including Gus and Karin who try their best to involve him in their lives. It is obvious that Lars doesn't want to feel anything or let anyone into his world.

One day at work, one of his colleagues is browsing the Internet and shows Lars a site where you can order an anatomically correct girl for obvious purposes. Lars secretly orders one. When it turns up, he introduces "Bianca" to Gus and Karin as his girlfriend. They are completely shocked but, recognising there is something very wrong with Lars, they play along, eventually persuading him to take Bianca to the town's doctor (Patricia Clarkson) who is also a psychologist. She convinces Gus and Karin that this is a phase that Lars is going through and that he needs to be able to play it out in order to heal some deep need.

Gus and Karin, although highly skeptical, decide to help and they begin to inform his work and the community of the plan. Thus begins a fascinating journey, not only for Lars, but for all who know him.

Lars and the Real Girl is absolutely wonderful. With a fresh narrative, superb acting, and a spot-on script, this potentially cheesy story is a moving portrait of a man in deep emotional pain who is healed by a community that gathers together to support him.

Humans yearn for love. But sometimes things happen that emotionally traumatise us to such an extent that we shut down all possibility of others making contact with us because we fear being hurt again. We often find meaning and fulfillment in things we believe will satisfy — but they don't. We are made for human relationships. But when we are broken and in pain, unwilling to let others in, how is it possible to be healed.

Lars and the Real girl is ultimately about the perseverance of those who love unconditionally and who ultimately succeed in penetrating the very high, very solid, walls of defence. For those who come from a belief in God, it isn't hard to see in Lars and the Real Girl a superb analogy of the persistent love of God who never gives up despite what seems like impenetrable walls of pain and suffering. For those who don't share that belief, it affirms an equally essential truth — we cannot survive without the love of other people. Our human relationships are absolutely essential to our survival.

Lars and the Real Girl is a wonderful, moving, heart-warming, gentle, profound story which will linger with you long after the credits roll.

My Rating: ***** (out of 5)

Positive Review

'It's nothing less than a miracle that the director, Craig Gillespie, and the writer, Nancy Oliver, have been able to make such an endearing, intelligent and tender comedy from a premise that, in other hands, might sustain a five-minute sketch on TV.' - Joe Morgenstern/The Wall Street Journal

Negative Review

'Lars and the Real Girl wobbles in a slow, toneless no-man's-land between mawkish and schmaltzy while trafficking shamelessly in heartland stereotypy.' - Ella Taylor/The Village Voice

Content Advice

Some sex-related content

AUS: PG USA: PG-13

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Movie Review: The Fountain

Francis Bacon once wrote that '[i]t is as natural to die as to be born.' Why, then, does death seem so unnatural? Why is death so difficult to deal with? Why is it so hard to move on from someone's death?

Darren Aronofsky's new film The Fountain tackles death head on in an incredibly deep metaphysical tapestry. Tom (Hugh Jackman) and Izzi (Rachel Weisz) Creo are deeply in love. But Izzie is dying of a brain tumour. Tom is a medical research scientist who brings all of his energies to bear on finding a cure for Izzi. He is desperate - he cannot accept that Izzi is going to die to the extent that his obsessive search for a cure ironically takes him away from the person he loves.

Izzi decides to write a story set in the time of the Spanish conquistadors about Tomas (Hugh Jackman) who goes on a search for the biblical Tree of Life, which is also spoken of in other religious legends and myths, in order to save his queen, Isabella (Rachel Weisz) and kingdom from its demise.

But Izzi leaves the last chapter blank, reassuring Tom that he will know how to finish it. As he struggles with the loss of his beloved, we are transported into space where Tom journeys in a bubble in pursuit of the Tree of Life which will bring his beloved back.

The Fountain moves between past, present, and outer space where we see three quite different, but interconnected, love stories in a kaleidoscope of religious imagery as we explore themes of death, grief, loss, obsession, and the need to let go and move on. Someone has said that The Fountain is easy to understand but difficult to grasp. This is a thinking person's film. It places demands on the viewer to come to grips with its subject matter.

After the film finished in the cinema, I turned to my friends and said, 'That was great. I enjoyed that'. Some patrons in the row in front turned around, grimaced, and said, 'What?! Did you get that?' This will not be a film liked, nor understood, by everyone. But what a great movie to provoke our thinking! I will be seeing it a second time to try to catch some of the more subtle nuances.

Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz are superb. Apparently, Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt were originally cast in the movie. But both walked away from the production. Aranofsky rewrote the script, Jackman (who signed on at a reduced rate) and Weisz accepted the roles to make the re-envisioned film.

The cinematography is brilliant. Instead of using CGI, Aranofsky chose, instead, to film chemical reactions in petri dishes believing that it would add to the timlessness of the movie. It's wonderful!

The Fountain is deeply religious/spiritual with a rich tapestry of ideas and symbolism in every frame. It is mesmerizing, beautiful, profound, engaging, and has something to say. Go and drink from The Fountain!

My Rating: **** (out of 5)

Positive Review

'If you're a movie lover who despairs that big-scale filmmaking today consists of little more than a self-cannibalizing system of clichés; if you are fed up with putatively ambitious movies that turn out to sorely lack not just vision but actual brains and actual heart as well, then you need, badly, to see The Fountain, soon, and under the most optimum viewing conditions available. It may well restore your faith in the idea that a movie can take you out of the mundane and into a place of wonderment.' - Glenn Kenny/Premier

Negative Review

'Aronofsky's reach far exceeds his grasp with this film, and the muddle he concocts makes one wonder if there was ever a solid foundation for The Fountain. Hope may spring eternal, but this fountain is a dry hole.' - Marjorie Baumgarten/Austin Chronicle

Content Advice

Some intense sequences of violent action, some sensuality and language.

AUS: M
USA: PG-13

The 10 Most Redeeming Films of 2006 (Christianity Today)

Christianity Today have posted what they consider are the 10 most redeeming movies of 2006. You can check out their selection here. I have seen them all, but I can most certainly recommend (I have linked to my reviews where I have them):

• Children of Men
• The Three Burials of Mequiades Estrada
• Tsotsi
• Joyeux Noel

Movie Review: Miss Potter

Miss Potter is a warm-hearted biopic of Beatrix Potter (Rene Zellweger), the author of the best-selling children's stories about Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-duck, and others. We follow her story from childhood where she shows talent for drawing and storytelling, through her frustrations with late 19th century-early 20th century British social mores, through her love relationship with her publisher Norman Warne (Ewan McGregor), and her ultimate purchase of many acres of beautiful farmland in the Lakes District where she finally marries William Heelis, a childhood acquaintance.

Beatrix Potter was a woman ahead of her time in many respects. She dreaded the fate of most women of that era - arranged marriage, social conformity, submissive and dependent female roles, class snobbery. She wanted none of it and, through her publishing and her friendship with Norman Warne and his sister, Millie Warne (Emily Watson), she struggles against all that is expected of her by her parents to become a wealthy and very successful author.

For me, Rene Zellweger was a poor choice for Beatrix Potter. She just never came across as authentic to me and appeared to find the role difficult. The rest of the cast is excellent. It's a simple story told beautifully. In some parts of the movie, Beatrix's characters are animated and interact with her to convey how intensely "real" these characters were for her. The scenery is absolutely stunning and beautifully photographed.

This is an enjoyable, lovely film that will leave you with a nice feeling and some insights into the character of a much-loved children's author.

My Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)

Positive Review

'In every way, Miss Potter is a very beautiful thing.' - Mick LaSalle/San Francisco Chronicle

Negative Review

'Miss Potter is a grave disappointment, because it never listens out for that note. It is a soft, woolly film about a smart, unsentimental woman who did constant battle with her frustrations.' - Anthony Lane/The New Yorker

Content Advice

Brief mild language

AUS: G
USA: PG

Movie Review: The Pursuit of Happyness

There has been a lot of hype surrounding the Gabriele Muccino's The Pursuit of Happyness. Some have suggested that Will Smith could be in line for an Oscar and the trailers I saw suggested a dramatic, heart-rending drama. In fact, The Pursuit of Happyness is a long, boring, mostly bland story of the true life Chris Gardner who had to struggle to become rich.

Chris Gardner (Will Smith) is a struggling salesman who is trying, along with his wife, Linda (Thandie Newton) to make ends meet. Linda can't take it anymore and decides to leave with Chris demanding custody of his son, Christopher (Jaden Smith). Things go from bad to worse as Chris strives to survive on the streets and provide for his 5-year-old son. Through pure tenacity, optimism, and personality, he is accepted into an internship with a stock-broker company where he has to prove himself worthy of being employed.

There are some touching moments in the story enhanced by the fact that Will and Jaden Smith are actual father and son in real life. But the characters in the story are not all that engaging and the storyline seems drawn out and repetitive. The acclaim for Will Smith's acting possibly has more to do with the fact that his role is more serious than previous ones and is, therefore, noticeable. If he won an Oscar for this role, particularly when he is compared with other actors in other movies this year, I would definitely not be happy!

My Rating: *** (out of 5)

Positive Review

'The tough beauty of the picture is that it lets each viewer weigh the costs and benefits to Gardner. It's a genuinely transporting inspirational movie because it's also a cautionary tale. It doesn't downplay the hero's occasional clumsiness or pigheadedness.' - Michael Sragow/Baltimore Sun

Negative Review

'Too emotionally slick to work, too visually glib to have an impact, made by people who think grit is something that's brought in by the prop department.' - Robert Wilonski/Village Voice

Content Advice

Some language

AUS: M

USA: PG-13

Movie Review: Apocalypto (2006)

The plot of Mel Gibson's latest film, Apocalypto, is simple enough. The Mayan civilisation is about to collapse due to drought and the people have taken to human sacrifice in an effort to appease the sun god. Jaguar Paw's (Rudy Youngblood) village is massacred by warriors from the Aztec city about a day's journey away and he is captured, along with other men an women of his village, to be taken to the temple to be a sacrifice. A fortuitous natural event leads to avoidance of being sacrificed and, after being the victim of a cruel sport, he escapes. The rest of the movie is a thrilling chase through the forest as Jaguar Paw returns to his village to rescue his young son and pregnant wife who he has hidden in a deep pit, promising to return for them.

As an action thriller, Apocalpyto is excellent. The pace never slows, the acting by the non-professional cast is excellent and entirely believable, the photography absolutely brilliant, and the imagery of a crumbling civilisation very powerful.

I have to admit to not knowing much about Mayan culture and I felt, as I watched the movie, that I was learning a lot. But that's one of the problems with Apocalypto. After reading a couple of online articles written by archaeologists about the movie and its relationship to Mayan culture (see Related Links), it is clear that Gibson has not been faithful to the history or culture of the Aztecs. He has collapsed events over hundreds of years into a 2+ hour film with no attempt to convey the actual history. Gibson has also modified clothing, adornment, weaponry, body markings, and rituals to cinematic effect. The impression is also given that Mayan societies were extremely brutal and violent. They did, indeed, practice human sacrifice, but apparently some of the portrayals of violence in the film exaggerate historical reality.

Mel Gibson loves his violence! Apocalypto is ruthless in portraying, up close, the bloody fights and the human sacrifices. Some have even suggested that the Gibson's violence is pornographic - a suggestion I heard in relation to Gibson's previous film, Passion of the Christ.

Apocalypto is clearly intended as a metaphor for the condition of America -- as Gibson sees it. But, as some have pointed out, he is possibly sacrificing Aztec/Mayan culture in aid of his message. Some have suggested that the dreamlike arrival of Christians at the end of the movie suggests that, for Gibson, only Christianity can be the saviour of American society. For some reason, I thought that, after the collapse of the Mayan civilisation, the real collapse was about to occur with a colonial religion taking over where the Mayans had left off! I must be getting too cynical.

As a movie, Apocalypto works well. It is exciting, engaging, suspenseful, and provocative. But if the criticisms made by scholars is true (and it seems they are), then don't go and see this movie intending to learn something historically accurate about Mayan culture and history. Apocalypto is a mixture of fact and fiction.

As Traci Ardren has stated, 'It is surely no surprise that "Apolcalypto" has very little to do with Maya culture and instead is Gibson's comment on the excesses he perceives in modern Western society. I just wish he had been honest enough to say this. Instead he has created a beautiful and disturbing portrait that satisfies his need for comment but does violence to one of the most impressive of Native American cultures.' So, watch it with caution!

My Rating: **** (out of 5)

Positive Review

'Mel Gibson is always good for a surprise, and his latest is that Apocalypto is a remarkable film. Set in the waning days of the Mayan civilization, the picture provides a trip to a place one's never been before, offering hitherto unseen sights of exceptional vividness and power.' - Todd McCarthy/Variety

Negative Review

'It's "Braveheart" without historical significance and "Passion" without spirituality, though it dabbles in both, and it represents as brazen an act of career suicide as I can recall from a star director. If he were a first-timer, he'd never work again.' - Lawrence Toppman/Charlotte Observer

Related Links

• Is Apocalypto Pornography?


• Orcs in Loincloths

Content Advice

Sequences of graphic violence and disturbing images

AUS: MA
USA: R

Movie Review: The Virgin Spring (1960)

Apparently, if one is truly interested in cinema, one should watch some of the movies by Ingmar Bergman, a famous Swedish director who has been influential in film and acknowledged by people like Woody Allen and the late Robert Altman as being significant in their own development. So, I decided to sit down and watch a couple, choosing the 1957 The Seventh Seal and the 1960 The Virgin Spring. I was deeply rewarded by watching both. In this review, I would like to focus on The Virgin Spring. The Wikipedia article on Ingmar Bergman comments on the fact that '[h]is films usually deal with existential questions of mortality, loneliness, and faith.' There is no doubt about this when it comes to The Seventh Seal and The Virgin Spring. The Virgin Spring is set in 14th-century Sweden when people were living in a tension between paganism and Christianity. Herr Tor (Max von Sydow) and his wife, Mareta (Birgitta Valberg) are wealthy farmers who live an ascetic, strict Christian life. Their 15-year-old virgin daughter, Karin (Bergitta Petterson) is spoiled and privileged in contrast to Karin's "foster-sister", Ingeri (Gunnel Lindbloom) who, pregnant out of marriage, is treated with disdain and tolerated. Inderi represents the pagan side of Swedish life at the time and, because of her situation, calls on the god, Odin, to help her - a call she later believes is answered in the events that followed. One day, Karin is asked to take candles to the family's church requiring a horse ride through a forest. She convinces her mother to let her wear her special clothing, usually reserved for attending church or special events. Ingeri accompanies her. On the way, Karin is attacked, raped, and murdered by two goat-herder brothers. In an ironic twist, these goat-herders turn up at Tor and Mareta's farm seeking shelther and food. When Tor and Mareta become aware of what has happened to their daughter, Tor takes revenge but realises, at a certain point, that he has gone too far. They set out to find their daughter and, when they do, Tor experiences a profound shattering of his faith - until a miracle occurs. Near the end of the film, Torr cries out to God and says:

You see it, God, you see it. The innocent child's death and my revenge. You allowed it. I don't understand you. Yet now I beg your forgiveness. I know no other way to be reconciled with my own hands. I know no other way to live.

It's a cry that many of us make when we find ourselves in the middle of pain and suffering - when the innocent die and God seems to stand by and do nothing. And then we react, taking revenge or solving the problem only to realise we have made it worse. Then all we can do is cry out to God, admitting our inability to understand and throwing ourselves on the mercy of God and God's forgiveness. What else can we do? We know no other way to live. The Virgin Spring is superbly photographed in black and white. The acting is powerful, though perhaps not in a style that we are familiar with nowadays. The Virgin Spring is a profound morality tale that raises a whole host of questions about religion, providence, and our response to unfathomable evil. It's a haunting meditation. It won the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 1960. You may not find it in your corner video store, but it is worth hunting down if you can. My Rating: **** (out of 5) Positive Review 'Although the story plays straightforwardly, greater enjoyment comes through pondering the meanings behind Bergman's symbolic tapestry.Although the story plays straightforwardly, greater enjoyment comes through pondering the meanings behind Bergman's symbolic tapestry.' - John A Nesbit/ToxicUniverse.com (good discussion of some of the religious themes) Negative Review 'It is far from an easy picture to watch or entirely commend. For Mr. Bergman has stocked it with scenes of brutality that, for sheer unrestrained realism, may leave one sickened and stunned.' - Bosley Crowther/New York Times (1960) AUS: M USA: unrated

Movie Review: Blood Diamond

In parts of Africa today, the desperation to mine diamonds to fund arms results in civil war and the press-ganging of preteen children as soldiers resulting in rivers of blood being shed in the name of greed and exploitation. These diamonds are called "conflict diamonds". This is the premise around which Edward Zwick's captivating new film Blood Diamond is set. Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) is a farmer whose village is massacred by members of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) resulting in his son being forced to become a child soldier, his wife and daughter incarcerated in a refugee camp, and Solomon slaving on a diamond field run by the RUF to fund arms deals for their cause. While Solomon is working he discovers a large pink diamond which he manages to hide. He ultimately ends up in a prison after the diamond field is attacked. Danny Archer (Leonardo de Caprio) is a ruthless ex-mercenary and diamond smuggler who, while in the same prison as Solomon, overhears a conversation that leads him to believe that Solomon has found a priceless diamond that could fund his escape from Africa and give him a new life. After arranging for himself and Solomon to be released from prison, Danny agrees to find Solomon's dispersed family for him if he will lead him to the hidden diamond and share it with him. So begins a series of horrendous events where amoral ruthlessness rules. All this is complicated by Danny's involvement with a syndicate of business men associated with a Colonel and his meeting an attractive, but equally determined, journalist (Jennifer Connelly) who helps Danny when he agrees to provide evidence of the smuggling racket he is involved in so she can write a story that truly matters. Blood Diamond is entirely predictable. But the performances of Di Caprio, Connelly, and especially Hounsou, raise this action thriller to a level that makes it definitely worth seeing. Conflict diamonds and the evil it wreaks on so many in Africa is a modern-day issue that we need to be reminded about. There are around 200,000 children in Africa today who are forced to commit atrocities that no adult should be required to perform, let alone a child. These conflict diamonds end up on the fingers of the Western world's women and we are reminded, at the end of the film, that it is in our power to refuse to buy conflict diamonds. Di Caprio is in fine form (apart from an uneven South African accent) and stays true to character throughout the entire movie. He ultimately makes a moral choice - but only because his actions have forced him to do so. The photography is excellent, showing the beauty and pain of Africa. The violence is very explicit and powerful. But, as others have noted, the real power of Blood Diamond comes when we are forced to look into the eyes of children who have lot everything including their innocence. It's a potent movie with an important theme that allows the story to drive home its message. My Rating: **** (out of 5) Positive Review 'Essentially a romantic adventure story with politics in the background--an old-fashioned movie, I suppose, but exciting and stunningly well made.' - David Denby/The New Yorker Negative Review 'Director Edward Zwick tried to make a great movie, but somewhere in the process he forgot to make a good one.' - Mick LaSalle/San Francisco Chronicle Content Advice Strong violence and language AUS: MA USA: R

Movie I've Seen in 2006

If you would like to see a list of every movie I have seen during 2006 with my rating and links to information on the movie, just click here! The movies are listed in the order of my rating from highest to lowest and given a score out of 10. Some of them will have reviews on my blog. You can search for a movie in the search box at the top of the blog screen. The listing of a movie does not mean I would necessarily recommend it. Enjoy!