Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.

A couple months back, some friends of mine got to see an early test screening of director Edward (The Last Samurai, Glory) Zwick's latest, and all reported back to me that it was one of the most violent and brutal films they'd seen all year. My assumption was that before Blood Diamond's eventual release, the blood and guts would be toned down and trimmed out. Guess again.

Blood Diamond is an unflinching look at the absolute chaos that once (and may still) existed in Sierra Leone in the 1990s. But lest you think this is some sort of message film, it is also one of the finest and most thrilling action offerings of the year. In fact, it will probably rank very high on my best-of-2006 list.

The story of conflict diamonds is sadly the story of the deaths and mutilations of tens of thousands of Africans, many of whom are forced into slave labor, working the diamond fields in place like Sierra Leone. If these workers are suspected of trying to steal diamonds they find, they have limbs chopped off or are simply killed where they stand. It wasn't until the time frame this film is set in that the Western world even acknowledged this heinous practices and diamond merchants were pressured into making assurances that their wares were not the result of such practices. Not surprisingly, many of these merchants (including one in this film played by The Queen's Michael Sheen) lied about their goods not being conflict diamonds

Early in the film, we are shown the simple life of a fisherman named Solomon (Djimon Hounsou) and his family. Solomon is kidnapped, separated from his family, and forced to word a rather rich deposit. He has seen his fellow slaves slaughtered for attempting to steal even the smallest diamond, so when he find a rather large pink specimen, he is terrified. But he also knows that the money he could feasibly get for this diamond could help him find his family and get out of the troubled region. His escape is harrowing, but he manages to hide the diamond near the field with the hopes of returning later to collect it.

Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio in what could easily is best and most fascinating performance) is a devious ex-mercenary from Zimbabwe, who has traded in the life of a soldier for that of a diamond smuggler. Shortly after we meet him, he is captured attempting to smuggle product across the border and is tossed in jail. It just so happens that Solomon also lands in the same jail and soon Danny discovers that Solomon has found something that could solve a lot of his problems as well, including owing money for his lost diamond shipment to a brutal general (The Mummy's Arnold Vosloo). The two become unlikely and uneasy partners, as Solomon agrees to take Danny to the diamond if Danny helps him find his family.

One of the film's most interested elements is a subplot about Solomon's young son, who is taken by rebel guerrillas and brainwashed to become a bloodthirsty "child solider" for their cause. It's perhaps the most evil part of the entire film, and I'm glad Zwick and company left those scenes in (they could have easily been trimmed) because they really leave you feeling ill as you contemplate that there are people in this world who would corrupt children like this.

Before I say anymore, I didn't think DiCaprio has any more tricks up his sleeve, but what he creates with Danny is astonishing. I'm not one who puts a lot of stock in accents, but his white African accent here (think South African, but with more of the local Zimbabwe dialect mixed in) never waivers. Danny is not a man we are supposed to like, and we know that at the first opportunity he will probably betray Solomon, possibly killing him once he has the diamond in hand. He is a man who has sold his soul many times over and doesn't really care. He knows he's going to hell, but he'd like to make a whole lot of cash before he does so. He's not a thrill seeker; he's just greedy and often mean. He's not a lovable rogue; he's an asshole.

Danny and Solomon tear through the jungle, with all manner of enemies hot on their trail. The frequent action sequences are bloody and remarkably well staged, but there are also of beautifully realized quiet moment, like when the two stumble upon a peaceful camp for families and orphans.

I've deliberately avoided mentioning the presence of Jennifer Connelly in Blood Diamond because he role as an American journalist investigating conflict diamonds is obnoxious and unnecessary. I don't blame her performance, which is as good as it can be with this grossly oversimplified character; no other actress could have done any better with the part. And while she avoids many of the trappings of women in action films (she doesn't scream all the time or slow down the men because she's wearing high heels), she serves no purpose. He point in the plot, I suppose, is the get Danny to give up the names of his diamond merchant connections, thus drawing a direct link from the conflict diamonds to the merchants, who claim not to deal in such merchandise. I applaud the humanitarian message of the film, but Connelly speaks, the film stalls out. The character's blessedly limited screen time isn't enough to ruin the movie, but it does stop it from being flawless.

If you think you can endure the prolonged glimpses pain and human suffering, Blood Diamond is a remarkable effort, and a rare instance when a message movie is successfully merged with raw brutality. In a lot of ways, I'm shocked that a big studio is releasing this film, but bravo for them for putting out this honest and numbing work.

Capone