Blood Diamonds

Autry 1 Mary Prof. W. Jaye English 102-603 Movie Evaluation 2 March 2013 Blood Diamonds explores the underground world of the diamond trade in Sierra Leone, where rare diamonds are used to fund military rebels at war. The film is based on Archer, a man with a survival instinct and a passion for collecting conflict diamonds. Archer finds himself involved with Solomon, a fisherman who was kidnapped and forced into slavery. Solomon was forced to work in the diamond mining fields under the command of a cruel fearless leader named Captain Poisen.

When Captain Poison captures all of these innocent people, many men, women, and children were separated from their families and normal lives. The rebel group that captured Solomon and his family was called the Revolutionary United Front (RUF)(Blood Diamonds). The RUF used the diamonds they forced their slaves to mine to support their war, they would trade the blood diamonds for guns and armed weapons. While Solomon slaved away working for the terrible RUF, in the diamond fields, Solomon found a pink diamond.

Solomon takes a quick look around and decides to ask if he may go to the restroom. After being searched heavily Solomon runs of into the wood and stashes the diamond deep in the ground. Solomon already scared for him and his family’s lives, doesn’t know that Captain Poison spotted him stealing. As soon as Captain Poison attempts to find the diamond that Solomon hid they were attacked by government troops. Both Solomon and Captain Poison were taken as prisoners. Around the same time this was taking place, Danny Archer was also taken as a prisoner.

When Captain Poison arrive at the prison and sees Solomon he begins screamed about the large diamond so everyone can hear, Poison even offers other prisoners amounts of money to kills Solomon right where he stood. Autry 2 After Archers’ release he arranges help getting Solomon out of the prison because of Archers’ interest in the large diamond. Blood Diamonds,shows that Archer now has discovered from his childhood to not that the conflict diamonds are the reasoning behind the war. Later a convoy is attacked and the remaining news teams are killed, while Archer, Solomon and Bowen escape from the scene.

Solomon runs into Colonel Coetzee, a man who also wants the diamond and later almost kills Solomon and Archer for it. There is a plane coming to pick them up now, but Archer is hit by a gun and is slowly losing blood and ends up getting left. Solomon escapes Africa, and travels to London with the help of Bowen. She helps Solomon trade the diamonds so he can reunite with his family once again. Danny finally realizes his faults in his inner self when it’s too late. Danny knew all along in his heart that smuggling was illegal and wrong, but ignored his heart and chased that dream anyway.

In the end, Danny gets shot and lies in horrible pain. He then realizes that it was all because of him contributing in the diamond smuggling. Danny did manage to regain his salvation when he handed Solomon the diamond and told Solomon and his son to leave him there to die, so that they could escape with the diamond together. Although the movie is covered with violence, it holds the viewers attention. This makes the viewer feel like they are walking in the shoes of the characters within the film. When viewing this film, it really opened my eyes to real life situations and events that child slaves must face on a daily basis.

It’s hard to place yourself in the perspective of the poor children being forced to work and even killed. It makes the viewer realize how lucky they are to live within a democracy, were they can freely speak for themselves and they decide of what is right and what is wrong. It forces the viewer to acknowledge slavery, instead of just neglecting it completely like I realized I have done for so long. When you view , it has an effect on you as soon as you see the brutal ways in which children are treated.

This movie would be a great educational piece to show to anyone viewing something that has more of a meaning and realism. Blood Diamonds,has tons of historical significance because of being based on a true story about African Blood diamonds, the movies shows so much that Autry 3 goes on. Blood Diamonds,was for the most part accurate but not entirely. In Blood Diamonds, the documentary showed how not only men had a hard time, but also women, and children(A;E Television Networks). It showed how women were raped for no reason, how their was no justice for the women who ad been rapped (A;E Television Networks). After the men would leave they were killed, so the women couldn’t emotional heal. As much as I learned and like the movie, Blood Diamonds, I feel they should have used more of a storyline telling something about what others went through as well, especially the women. Autry 4 Works Cited Zwick, Edward, Dir. Blood Diamond. Perf. Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, and Djimon Hounsou. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2006. lood Diamonds. The History Channel. A&E Television Networks, 2006.