Blood Diamond

Edward Zwick co-produced and directed the Academy Award-nominated 2006 adventure/drama/thriller film, Blood Diamond. The movie featured Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou in the lead roles of Danny Archer (a white mercenary), Maddy Bowen (an American journalist) and Solomon Vandy (a fisherman), respectively. Blood Diamond’s title is a direct reference to diamonds mined from war zones, which are then sold financial gains so that these battles and wars can continue.

The entire movie, set in 1999, depicts the Sierra Leone Civil War which shows a country torn apart by the struggle between government soldiers and rebel forces. It begins focusing on the capture of Vandy by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels. He is then enslaved to work in the diamond fields where he finds a large diamond of a rare colour, pink. His ruling commander, Captain Poison sees Solomon hiding the diamond, moments before the area is attacked by government troops. Captain Poison aims to trade the unusually large diamond for superior arms and extremely lethal weapons.

The movie progressively depicts the atrocities meted out to civilians, prisoners and the slaves working in the minefields harvesting conflict diamonds. In the finale, Archer manages to free many of the slaves including Vandy and entrusts him with the pink diamond that Vandy can sell off and start a new life. Archer, in a grave move, sacrifices his life to save all others and set them free.

DVDs and CDs of the movie nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor are available online.