Blood Diamond

 Blood Diamond

Directed by :Edward Zwick

Written by :Charles Leavitt

Story by :Charles Leavitt , C. Gaby Mitchell

Produced by :Marshall Herskovitz ,Graham King ,Paula Weinstein ,Alexzander Breault-Boucher

Music by :James Newton Howard

Release date :December 8, 2006 (United States)

Running time :143 minutes

Country :United States

Language :English

Budget :$100 million

Box office :$171.7 million

STORY LINE

The film is set in 1999 in Sierra Leone, a West African nation ravaged by a decade of civil war. Rebel factions such as the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) frequently terrorize the countryside, intimidating Mende locals and enslaving many to harvest diamonds, which fund their increasingly successful war effort. One such unfortunate local is fisherman Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) from Shenge. While his family escapes the rebels, Vandy is assigned to a workforce overseen by Captain Poison (David Harewood), a ruthless warlord.

One morning, while mining a river, Vandy discovers an enormous pink diamond. Captain Poison tries to take the stone, but the area is suddenly raided by government troops. Vandy buries the stone before being captured. Both Vandy and Poison are incarcerated in the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown, along with Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), a Rhodesian smuggler and mercenary. Archer, a veteran of the 32 Battalion during the South African Border War, was jailed while trying to smuggle diamonds into Liberia. They were intended for Rudolph van de Kaap (Marius Weyers), a corrupt South African mining executive and a major part of the international diamond industry.

Hearing of the pink diamond in prison, Archer arranges for himself and Vandy to be freed from detention. He travels to Cape Town to meet his employer, Colonel Coetzee (Arnold Vosloo), an Afrikaner formerly with the apartheid-era South African Defence Force, who now commands a private military company. Archer wants the diamond so he can sell it and leave the continent forever, but Coetzee wants it as compensation for Archer's botched smuggling mission. Archer returns to Sierra Leone, locates Vandy, and offers to help him find his family if he will help recover the diamond.

Meanwhile, RUF insurgents escalate hostilities; Freetown falls to their advance while Vandy's son Dia is among those rounded up to serve as child soldiers under a liberated Captain Poison. Archer and Vandy narrowly escape to Lungi, where Vandy encounters his wife and daughters in a refugee camp, but finds that his son has been taken by the RUF. Vandy and Archer plan to reach Kono, where Vandy buried the diamond, with an American journalist named Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly), who is attempting to write an exposé on the illicit diamond trade. In exchange for her help, Archer promises to provide her the evidence she needs for her story.

Archer and Vandy, disguised as television journalists, travel with Maddy and a press convoy destined for Kono, but the convoy is ambushed by rebels and the three are forced to flee. While trekking through the jungle, they encounter Kamajor militiamen, who take them to the home of a friendly local named Benjamin Kapanay. The kindhearted Kapanay offers to drive them to Kono, though he is injured by an RUF child soldier on the way. The trio arrive in Kono after a harrowing journey, where Coetzee and his private army—contracted by the Sierra Leone government—prepare to repulse the rebel offensive.

Archer, having developed respect for Maddy, gives her the evidence and forces her to evacuate the country with other civilians; Archer and Vandy, having stolen weapons and supplies from Colonel Coetzee's army, set out for Captain Poison's encampment to retrieve the nearby diamond. Along the way, the two men begin fighting over what they perceive as the ultimate goal: Archer wants the diamond, while Vandy cares only about finding his son.

They arrive at the encampment where Archer, seeing they are heavily outnumbered, calls Coetzee's army via satellite phone to request backup. Vandy, still desperate to find his son, sneaks into the encampment and locates Dia; due to Dia's brainwashing, he refuses to acknowledge his father. Vandy is captured but manages to escape once Coetzee's army arrives. Vandy finds Captain Poison and beats him to death with a shovel as the mercenaries overwhelm the RUF defenders. Coetzee then takes Dia hostage and forces Vandy to produce the diamond, but Archer kills Coetzee after realizing the colonel would eventually kill them both. Dia briefly holds the pair at gunpoint, but Vandy is able to talk him down by reminding him of who he was before his kidnapping. Pursued by vengeful mercenaries, Archer discloses he has been mortally wounded and entrusts the stone to Vandy, telling him to take it for his family. Vandy and his son rendezvous with Archer's pilot, who flies them to safety while Archer makes a final phone call to Maddy, who is in Cape Town; they share final farewells as he asks her to assist Vandy and his family, and he gives her permission to finish her article. Archer finally takes in the beautiful African landscape before dying.

Vandy and Maddy meet in London, where they execute an undercover operation meant to expose the van de Kaap operation's dirty dealings. Vandy exchanges the pink diamond for £2 million pounds and a reunion with his entire family. Maddy takes photographs of the exchange and publishes her exposé on the diamond trade and van de Kaap's criminal actions. Later, Vandy appears as a guest speaker at a conference on blood diamonds in Kimberley, where he is met with a standing ovation.

REVIEW

No need to think twice just watch this Master piece. Want to know why-Just read this.

I'm writing this review in 2021 July after watching the film for 10th time.This movie is at it's best when it comes to Storyline,Screenplay, Cast, Acting and edge of seat scenes.Just watching this movie again and again just because of Leonardo DiCaprio's Acting in every scene.Once I start this movie can't see Leo except for Archer. Jennifer,Leo and Hounsou Literally lived in their characters.Brilliant and Excellent Acting from Leo throughout the movie. He Looked so real in this character while 1. That scene where under attack he asks Solomon yes or no again and again.

2.The scene where he saves saves every one with his riding and after getting down the way he leads others carefully.

3. The scene where he saw Dia the first time and calls for him under attack and saves the kid.

4. The scene where he makes the deal with his commander ( In this scene Leo is excellent and shows his conflict in making the deal/ handing over Dia to commander even though he don't like it.)

5.Diamond finding scene, Whole Acting of both Leo and Solomon done by Eyes so much interesting how they do it with 4 men surrounding them and watching them continuously. Director and the actors are Brilliant and outstanding here.

6.The last of the Leo whole scene is an art piece and talking over the phone and saying he is where he should be and talking about the beautiful view with core satisfaction in his eyes. Won't be able to describe it you have to watch it.

7. And the last scene of the movie when Solomon walks to the podium my heart raising and saying all of them should stand now and they does. Director hat's off man what a incredible thinking man. Tears rolled down my eyes at the last second of the movie.

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Diamond