Blood Diamond The Movie Summary and Review

Event:

This movie depicts the events of the civil war (1991-2002) in the African country; Sierra Leone that took place on the diamonds between the insurgent forces supported by the foreign buyers of diamonds and the government forces.

Storyline:

The story revolves around an African family of a fisherman;Solomon Vandy who wants his son to become a doctor. The civil war was going on between the rebels group of Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and the government loyalists. One day, their area was attacked by the RUF rebels and they managed to get Vandy with themselves on the workplace where he worked for Captain Poison on the diamond mines. He found a big pink diamond there and buried it. He escaped from the diamond mine but not his son; Diya Vandy. Later, Diya was brainwashed by the Captain Poison and he became the captain of the young RUF soldiers. The movie became interesting with the entry of Danny Archer who was a worker (smuggler) for the international diamond buyers and Maddy Bowen; an American journalist. Danny Archer wants a last big diamond to escape the continent and Maddy Bowen wants to complete her story about the smuggling of the blood diamonds. Danny offered Solomon Vandy to give him that big pink diamond and in return, he will get Solomen to his family. Also, Archer promised Maddy Bowen to give her the proofs of the smuggling of diamonds in return of her assistance to get that pink diamond. Maddy got her story, Solomen Vandy his son, and eventually his family and also the diamond which Archer gave him when he realized he can’t survive. Solomen sold the diamond to the van de Kaap and got money and family while Maddy captured the pictures of the deal as proof to expose van de Kaap. Later, a conference held in Kimberley in which Solomen was a guest speaker.

Historically Proven:

The movie is historically based on 11-years of the civil war in Sierra Leone during The 1990s that resulted in the loss of 50,000 lives and many wounded and two million refugees. According to the refugees, the movie has rightly depicted the situation in the area due to conflict diamonds.

Observations:

It is observed that the events depicted at that time were near to reality. The role of diamonds was described as the main reason for the civil war between the rebels and the government loyalists. However, the weaknesses of the government were not really highlighted like the lack of education,  poverty and mismanagement by the government. It also showed how young minds are transformed and how the rebels make the immature boys terrorists and anti-state.

Display of Events:

Like, all the events of the war, the movie showed it negatively. It displayed that the Africans were lotted both by the government as well as the rebels. In all the ways, the local Africans were in trouble without any reason just because they were in the diamonds rich region.

 

Impact of Changes:

The Kimberley Peace Process was established in 2003 by the UNSC to prevent the blood diamonds to reach in the market through the rebels and their allies against the authority of the government. This was a step against all the events shown in the movie. However, the process hadn’t significantly played a role in stopping the smuggling of diamonds and the viability of the process is questioned in this regard.

My Opinion:

The movie was epic and the casting choice was also good. The ending of the movie was also good as Mr Vandy got his family back and Maddy her story though the death of Archer was the sad point however the way he had given the diamond to Mr Vandy showed good and kind nature of the human being no matter in how much bad activities he/she is indulged. It was also motivational that oppression and cruelty have to finish one day and we should stand against the adversities in the bad times. Critics say that the movie had just focused on the role of diamonds in the civil war and mocked the disqualifications of the government but I think as diamonds are the main reason for the war so it’s fine to focus on the main one to highlight its pivotal role.