Blood Diamond vs Return To Paradise

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It’s hard to watch a movie like Blood Diamond and not think, Man, some crazy shit goes down in other countries. Blood Diamond is a movie of war, slavery, missing children, genocide and smuggling. You probably won’t stop for ice cream on the way home.

Which isn’t to say that Blood Diamond isn’t a good movie. It’s quite good, and uses elements of Hotel Rwanda, The Year of Living Dangerously and The Defiant Ones in illuminating the brutal process behind getting diamonds to the United States. I’d hesitate to call it a fun movie (even I’m not that shallow), but it’s exciting, and features set pieces that would not be out of place in movies geared more toward action audiences.

Blood Diamond was directed by Edward Zwick, who I’m guessing loved history as a kid, but always wished the wars had featured bigger movie stars. His specialty is placing a sympathetic, charismatic star in a situation we only think we know about, and then revealing all the horror and injustice through the suffering of that charismatic star. It’s a brilliant tactic, and most directors can’t do it as seamlessly and with as little manipulation as Edward Zwick. This time around, he’s upped the ante by two stars, to nice effect.

Our main Charismatic Suffering Educator is Djimon Hounsou, who knows his way around this particular block (after Amistad, Gladiator and In America, this guy isn’t just one of my favorite actors, he’s practically one of my favorite college professors as well.). Hounsou is Solomon, an African who, after a terrifying raid on his village, finds himself working as a diamond laborer, panning in a muddy river for the elusive jewels featured in those stylish black-and-white commercials here in the states. His plight is dangerous and awful, because, you know, point-blank shootings and macheted hands and so on, but it’s tragic too, because Solomon has been separated from his family, and his son has been forced into a militia full of machine-gun-toting children. Hounsou gives an impassioned performance. Few actors use their voice to such startling effect (I’m not sure which is more powerful, when Hounsou is quiet, or when he’s loud. At one point—one of the loud ones—dude had a bloody shovel in his hands, but I was looking at his mouth the whole time, cause that’s where the action was.)

Luckily for Solomon, two opportunists have an interest in his well-being. Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a diamond smuggler with all the connections and that job implies (in other words, he knows people who want him in prison, but also those who will bail him out), but he doesn’t have what he truly wants: the huge pink diamond that Solomon buried near the mines and abandoned during an attack. Archer is out to satisfy his own agenda, but promises to find Solomon’s family in return for the diamond’s location. Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly) is a reporter trying to expose the nasty diamond trade to the world at large. She’s interested in Solomon and Archer for her story (and eventually Archer for other things), and her press pass and charm (not to mention looking like Jennifer Connelly) open certain doors even Archer can’t get through.

Blood Diamond is a sturdy Oscar-time drama, one of those that satisfy mainstream audiences while making An Important Statement. But I found myself forgiving some of its Very Special qualities (Connelly is saddled with a couple speeches about the diamond trade that beg to be followed by the More You Know starburst) because Zwick has done such a fine job with the movie (Africa has seldom looked more sinister or beautiful, simultaneously) and the three principle characters are so carefully fleshed out. DiCaprio continues his near fault-free climb to adult leading man status. His Archer is not a good man, but he knows how one acts, and follows through when he must. DiCaprio speaks in a crisp South African accent that never wavers. It was distracting in the trailer, but in the film it works, and by the end I bought it as authentic. Connelly is good, as usual, and does a fine mix of heart and intelligence on her sleeve that we don’t see much in the movies. Usually one or the other will do, but never without the actress being a victim in some way.

Return to Paradise is another movie, like Blood Diamond, that puts the fear into anyone considering crossing an ocean anytime soon. As the movie opens, three friends are finishing up a vacation in Malaysia, which of course included a brick of hash. Lewis (Joaquin Phoenix) stays behind, while Sheriff and Tony (Vince Vaughn and David Conrad) return to United States. A couple years pass, and Sheriff is approached by lawyer representing Lewis (Anne Heche). Lewis was arrested for possession of the hash, and it was such a huge amount, he’s been charged with trafficking, which is punished by death. There is one possible bargain: the other two friends can return to Malasia, where they will all serve three years. If one returns, he’ll serve six. If no one returns, Lewis is executed as planned.

Return to Paradise has an obvious Would You Rather quality to it, but it’s got a stark realism to it as well. While Sheriff and Tony contemplate their decision (Tony is an almost definite no, Sheriff is mulling it over), Lewis has been completely beaten by the Malaysian prison system. Phoenix is tremendous in the role; few actors of his generation can lay claim to as much naked fear as he puts on the screen in this movie. By the end of the movie, I began to wonder if maybe Phoenix needed counseling when it was complete. After watching Return to Paradise, you might need some for yourself as well.

As the friends with a big decision to make, Vaughn makes the biggest impact. Of course we know Vince Vaughn primarily as a comedic actor, but he brings surprising layers of regret and street smarts to his character. Vaughn has chemistry to spare with Anne Heche, who, as you’ll see in Return to Paradise, is a grossly undervalued and undercast actress.

And so, Return to Paradise (which was capably directed by Joseph Ruben) isn’t going to teach you, I’m afraid, much about life in Malaysia. It’ll make you scared to travel there, for certain, but there must be things to love, otherwise happening dudes like Joaquin Phoenix and Vince Vaughn wouldn’t have gone in the first place, right? Maybe it’s not like Blood Diamond; maybe there’s no lesson, and no fake celebrity professor on hand to spell out points on a dry-erase board. Sometimes that’s okay. There’s an emotional vitality to Return to Paradise, for which I’m willing to sacrifice a few statistics here and there.

Blood Diamond: A-
Return to Paradise: B+