Finding a Story Through the Fog of War
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Many people, when they see misery around them, want to know why. But Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), a smuggler who spends most of “Blood Diamond” racing through Sierra Leone’s civil war in pursuit of profit, has already got an explanation: “T.I.A.” It stands for “This Is Africa.” He abandoned all hope for this benighted part of the world long ago.
Many moviegoers these days reserve a similar, if markedly less tragic, cynicism for Hollywood: It will never make big, big-hearted pictures like it used to. “Blood Diamond,” however, offers reason to believe. Directed by Edward Zwick and written by Charles Leavitt, it very nearly achieves that perfect balance of humanity and big-screen spectacle that many believe left American movies decades ago.
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