Posted by Rachel on: 03.30.2007 /
“Who do you think buys the stones I bring out? Dreamy American girls who all want a storybook wedding and a big, shiny rock, like the ones in the advertisements of your politically-correct magazines.”So please don’t come here and make judgments on me, alright? I provide a service. The world wants what we have and they want it cheap. We’re in business together.”- Diamond smuggler Danny Archer
Blood Diamond tells the intersecting stories of three individuals caught up in the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone in 1999. Leonardo DiCaprio plays an ex-mercenary turned smuggler who will do anything to obtain a rare and priceless diamond. Djimon Hounsou plays a peaceful Mende fisherman whose world is ripped apart when rebel forces brutalize his village and force his young son to become a soldier. And Jennifer Connelly plays an American journalist determined to unmask the dark truth about the diamond trade.
Blood Diamond powerfully depicts the unbearable anguish of parents as their children are torn away, the fear and confusion of child soldiers terrorized into committing brutal acts and the frustration of a journalist begging an indifferent world to pay attention. The movie exposes how the violence and suffering of the civil war were fueled and funded by the illicit diamond trade. And it challenges privileged and comfortable Westerners to educate ourselves about the consequences of our economic choices.
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Comment by: Rachel
1 03/31/07 4:29 PM | Comment Link |The most painfully ironic scene for me was when the character played by Djimon Hounsou comes upon a village that has been laid in ruins by the rebel forces. He approaches an old man who is sitting alone under a tree and the two men lament that such horrors could be committed over diamonds. The old man wryly says, “Let’s hope they don’t discover oil here. Then we’d have real problems!”
Comment by: Staci
2 04/2/07 4:12 PM | Comment Link |We saw Blood Diamond this weekend. One scene I keep recalling is when Connelly’s character asks DiCaprio’s why she should help just one person when so many need help… and then she realizes what she just said.
We were struck, when looking at all the child soldiers, how much they looked like and behaved like my son and his friends. Obviously not the using machine guns part, but the mannerisms and what appealed to them. There is such a strong desire at this age to be recognized as a “man” and to be respected. I don’t care how “well raised” a child is, if they are taken and subjected to this type of indoctrination along with “freedom” to smash stuff, burn things, stay up all night watching rap videos, given drugs, etc. this could happen to any child.