Film Overview"Blood Diamond" is an American political war thriller movie directed by Edward Zwick, released in 2006. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Danny Archer, a mercenary from Zimbabwe, Djimon Hounsou as Solomon Vandy, an angler, and Arnold Vosloo as Colonel Coetzee, a corrupt soldier. The movie is set during the Sierra Leone Civil War in 1999 and reveals the story of the human and social cost of diamond smuggling.
Plot SummaryThe film starts with Solomon Vandy, a local angler, being separated from his family and forced to work by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). His life takes a turn when he finds a pink diamond and instinctively hides it with the hope that it might sooner or later reunite him with his family. Concurrently, Danny Archer, a diamond smuggler, gets detained and discovers Solomon's pink diamond through a cellmate while in jail.
Upon his release from prison, Archer discovers Solomon and provides him an offer - aid in finding his household in exchange for the diamond. While they embark on a dangerous mission to recover the diamond, Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly), a reporter, joins them, attracted by the chance of a big story about the corruption in the diamond trade.
Main Conflict and ClimaxThe film shows the treacherous conditions under which diamonds are mined and shed light on the ravaging toll on human life it requires to sustain the diamond trade. As the protagonists find their method to the website where the diamond is hidden, they are challenged by Colonel Coetzee who desires the diamond for himself. In the middle of this chaos, Solomon discovers that his boy has been brainwashed into ending up being a child soldier for the RUF.
In the climactic fight, following a troubled firefight, Coetzee's men are beat with the assistance of Solomon's boy. Archer ends up mortally wounded however ensures Solomon and his child escape. Archer, realizing he won't endure, calls Maddy, sharing the area of Solomon and the diamond to ensure her story is told to expose the blood diamond trade.
ConclusionIn the end, Solomon offers the diamond to a legitimate buyer and uses the money to reunite with his family and enhance his community. Solomon exposes the illegal diamond trade in a conference in Kimberley, South Africa and calls for worldwide regulations versus the sale of blood diamonds. Meanwhile, the romantic subplot in between Maddy and Archer is concluded when Archer, mortally injured, sees the dawn from the hilltop minutes before he passes away.
Themes"Blood Diamond" concentrates on styles of greed, the human expense of capitalism, and corruption in the international diamond trade. The term 'blood diamond' is used to specify diamonds mined in African battle zone and offered worldwide to fund armed conflict against federal governments. The movie portrays the extreme truth behind the diamond trade and slams western consumption and exploitation, shedding light on the troubling reality of the expense of high-end in developed countries.
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