"Blood Diamond" is easily the best new release in a long time, with Leonardo DiCaprio delivering yet another gut-wrenching role as a tragic white mercenary caught up in a savage war in Sierra Leone that soon spreads to Liberia.

Where "The Interpreter" miserably failed to bring out the horrific conflicts in many African nations, it is to director Edward Zwick's credit that he displays the horror that much of the continent's populace faces.

Although it's true that the plot is a bit far-fetched, there is an effort to make the film realistic and plausible.

A father (Djimon Hounsou) sets out to rescue his son - abducted by brutal militants and used to commit atrocities - and finds a huge diamond. DiCaprio strikes a deal with him: the diamond in return for his missing boy.

What happens next in this exciting tale of greed and heroics in a world gone mad is truly worth your time. "Blood Diamond" is easily Zwick's best film since his spectacular romantic epic "Legends of the Fall", which made Brad Pitt such a big star.

Here DiCaprio, fresh from his gritty role as an undercover detective in "The Departed", delves hungrily into the role of an ex-Rhodesian soldier immersed in the diamond trade.

While the movie tries to make viewers aware of consortiums financing militants to secure the supply and price of raw diamonds, it's largely Hounsou's dreadful journey that will rule audience hearts.

What he endures through the 143-minute movie are scenes that won't be easily forgotten.

The other half of the movie belongs to DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly, she playing an American reporter who tries to pry from him details about greedy capitalists making money from other people's misery.

Romance between them is unavoidable, even though the leading players are going through one of the most wretched adventures they'll ever experience, where genocide is taking place in many places on the continent.

Arnold Vosloo, as the corrupt colonel who also wants the diamond for himself, brings another dimension to the film after hamming up "The Mummy", to the delight of horror fans.

DiCaprio should get a Best Actor Oscar nomination for this, as well as one for "Departed".

by hanuman