Both films ultimately fail, but for very different reasons. Yet one commonality is that, far too often, the films' characters begin sounding like pawns in a polemic, with dialogue taking on sermonic, lectern-bound cadences.

Historically, it's an industry that was tied to the merchants of death, arms manufacturers who insured that the baubles de-manded by suburban fiancées continually fetched high prices.

Blood Diamond is set during the recent upheavals in Sierra Leone, which was thrown into a brutal civil war over the control of the diamond mines. From the despoiled jungle to the wastescape of Freetown, the film becomes excerpts from the horror, as machete-wielding thugs and their child-soldier henchlings murder and maim their way to power.

A mild-mannered fisherman, Solomon (Djimon Hounsou), has his life shattered when rebels attack his village. His wife and children manage to escape, but Solomon is captured and brought before the rebel leader, who enjoys watching the captured villagers getting their arms hacked off. But because of his size and strength, Solomon is spared the butchery and hauled to the rebel diamond mine.

In another part of this troubled land, soldier of fortune and diamond smuggler Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) is caught trying to ferry diamonds into neighboring Liberia and shipped back to Freetown to be jailed. It's there that he first sees Solomon, recently arrested at the diamond mine by government forces, and hears the rumor that Solomon found and hid a valuable diamond.

With the aid of his powerful Afrikaner protector, the "Rhodesian" Archer is sprung from jail and works to get Solomon out so that he can find his storied blood diamond.

The story then becomes an arduous trek into chaos. Archer and Solomon, along with Archer's love interest, journalist Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly), first seek out Solomon's family, then make their way toward the buried treasure. Along the way they endure attacks and close calls, and also discover (from Solomon's wife, whom they easily locate in a refugee camp of 1 million people) that Solomon's son has been kidnapped by the rebels.

As in the superior Hotel Rwanda, Blood Diamond does not shy from the blood orgy that most African spats become. There are grueling scenes of mutilation and mass slaughter, though Zwick carefully crafts these scenes so that they never become gratuitous.

The script could have used a bit of this artfulness in its crafting. As it is, it's a vehicle for clichés leading to a predictable conclusion. The actors try their best, particularly DiCaprio. He does a mean white Rhodesian accent, though his Archer becomes little more than a lovable rogue. Hounsou supplies the piece's humanity (although one must question why the film wasn't considered, like Hotel Rwanda, from a black point of view, rather than a white), while Connelly plays mouthpiece to the film's political motives like a PA system.

Unlike Fast Food Nation, Blood Diamond ends on a rather disturbing optimistic note, where the good and bad are all properly judged. End titles salute the fact that the diamond trade has amended its business practices and that Sierra Leone is now "at peace." So much for the exploitation of cheap black labor and the hemorrhaging of Darfur. We're welcome to troop thoughtlessly back into the night and, if we're up to it, maybe grab a burger.