Blood Diamond

Blood Diamond is a 2006 American political war thriller film co-produced and directed by Edward Zwick, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou. The title refers to blood diamonds, which are diamonds mined in African war zones and sold to finance conflicts, and thereby profit warlords and diamond companies across the world.

Set during the Sierra Leone Civil War in 1996–2001, the film shows a country torn apart by the struggle between government soldiers and rebel forces. It also portrays many of the atrocities of that war, including the rebels' amputation of people's hands to discourage them from voting in upcoming elections.
The film's ending, in which a conference is held concerning blood diamonds, is in reference to an actual meeting that took place in Kimberley, South Africa in 2000 and led to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which seeks to certify the origin of rough diamonds in order to curb the trade in conflict diamonds. The film received mixed but generally favorable reviews.

In 1999, Mende fisherman Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) is captured by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels during a raid and subsequent massacre of his village in Shenge, Sierra Leone. The REBELS put him to work as a diamond miner under the eye of warlord Captain Poison (David Harewood). Captain Poison uses the diamonds to fund their war effort. One day, Solomon recovers an enormous pink diamond while working. Hoping to keep it for himself, he buries it in a nearby riverbank; Poison discovers the truth, but before he can act, the Sierra Leonean Army assaults the mines. Vandy, the captain, and most of Poison's fighters are captured and subsequently imprisoned in Freetown.
Meanwhile, Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), a white Rhodesian gunrunner, is arrested smuggling diamonds into Liberia. Archer had been transporting the diamonds to an Afrikaner mercenary, Colonel Coetzee (Arnold Vosloo), his former commander in the 32nd Battalion, the most decorated unit of the South African Border War. Coetzee is in turn employed by Tiara Diamond Company executive Rudolph Van de Kaap (Marius Weyers) and his deputy, Rupert Simmons (Michael Sheen). While being held in the same Freetown prison as Solomon Vandy, Archer learns of the pink diamond's existence.
Archer manages to arrange his own release from prison. He also has Solomon freed, hoping that he will lead him to this valuable diamond. Solomon begins working at a hotel. Meanwhile, Captain Poison conscripts Solomon's son Dia (Kagiso Kuypers) into the RUF as a child soldier, brainwashing him to make him a killer.
Archer visits his contacts in South Africa, including Colonel Coetzee. The Afrikaner is angry and demands that he receive some of the profits from this pink diamond. Danny remarks that he plans to use his share of the money to leave the dark continent. However, Coetzee disagrees, referencing a Shona legend that the soil of Africa is red because of all the blood that has been spilled by people fighting over the land. He implies that both of them will never leave Africa. Returning to Sierra Leone, Archer locates Solomon and offers to help him find his long lost family, especially Dia, if he agrees to lead him to the diamond. While they discuss the issue, RUF rebels launch a massive attack on Freetown. Archer and Solomon survive the initial carnage long enough to steal away from the ruined city by morning.

In Forécariah, Guinea, American journalist and humanitarian Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly), allows Archer and Vandy to infiltrate the Kono with her press convoy in exchange for information on her current story exposing the flow of "blood diamonds" out of Africa. Archer offers proof to Maddy that Van de Kaap and his Tiara Diamond Company control the market by illegally stockpiling vast amounts of diamonds to simulate scarcity. The convoy comes under attack by murderous insurgents. The three narrowly escape and eventually find their way to an encampment where Colonel Coetzee and his private army are preparing for battle; the mercenaries now intend to get their hands on the diamond no matter who or what gets in their way.
Archer and Vandy eventually leave the camp while Maddy boards a plane evacuating foreigners out of the conflict zone. The duo reach Captain Poison's diamond fields, which has been recaptured by the rebels. Solomon approaches Dia, who refuses to acknowledge his father. Archer calls the mine's coordinates in to Coetzee's forces, who subsequently launch an air strike on Poison's men via an Mi-24 Helicopter Gunship. Amidst the chaos, Solomon finds and kills Poison with a shovel. As the outgunned and now leaderless RUF force tries to flee into the jungle, they are finished off by a mercenary strike team on the ground. With the battle won, Colonel Coetzee has Dia rounded up and holds him at gunpoint. He threatens to murder the boy unless Solomon retrieves the pink diamond immediately. Archer knows that the colonel is planning to execute Vandy and his son once he is in possession of the valuable stone. He preemptively kills Coetzee and three of his soldiers, only to be mortally wounded in the process. Dia then takes advantage of the situation to hold a pistol on his father and the injured Archer. After an emotional discussion, however, Solomon manages to convince his son of his own retained innocence and Dia agrees to return home with him, having overcome his mental conditioning.

The three of them flee from the remaining mercenaries and make their way from the valley towards an airstrip atop a nearby ridge where Archer has prearranged to rendezvous with a local pilot, Nabil (Jimi Mistry), in his GA8 Airvan. Before they reach the ridge, Danny collapses from his wounds and hands over the diamond to Solomon, instructing him to take it and use its profits for himself and the benefit of his family. Archer uses an assault rifle to hold off their pursuers as the two others escape in the plane.
Bleeding to death from his injuries, Archer uses his satellite phone to make a final call to Maddy Bowen and ask her to assist Solomon. Realizing that he is dying, Maddy expresses her sorrow that she is not able to be there with him in person. The Rhodesian smuggler replies calmly that he is already where he needs to be. He grasps a handful of red soil, stained with his own blood, and dies looking out on the African landscape.
Shortly afterwards, Solomon meets with Rupert Simmons, who promises that the Tiara Diamond Company will arrange for his family to be brought to England in exchange for the diamond. Maddy secretly photographs the deal and later publishes a magazine article in which she exposes the trade in conflict diamonds, detailing Rudolph Van de Kaap's criminal actions and ruining him. Later, Solomon is seen preparing to tell of his experiences at a conference on blood diamonds in Kimberley, South Africa. His entrance to the conference meeting hall is met with a standing ovation as the film ends.

Leonardo DiCaprio as Danny Archer: Born in 1968 to a white farming family from war-torn Rhodesia, Archer fled the country after his parents were savagely murdered during the bush war. He joined the South African Defence Force in 1986, serving with some distinction across the southern subcontinent. Unwilling or unable to pursue a legitimate military career after the fall of apartheid, the unemployed soldier turned smuggler and began running arms for profit. Understandably cynical by nature, Archer continues to harbour nostalgic feelings for 'Rhodesia', refusing to acknowledge the regime change which rechristened his homeland as black-ruled Zimbabwe.
Djimon Hounsou as Solomon Vandy: A dedicated but humble family man, Vandy's greatest wish is to see his son, Dia, through a difficult education in poverty-stricken Sierra Leone. Balking at the notion that the child should become a poor, illiterate, fisherman like himself, Solomon hopes that Dia will one day enter the medical field.
Jennifer Connelly as Maddy Bowen: An American journalist who has traveled the globe extensively. She arrives in Africa hoping to document Sierra Leone's ongoing violence and raise international awareness regarding the illicit diamond trade flourishing there.
Kagiso Kuypers as Dia Vandy: Solomon Vandy's only son. The pride and joy of his loving father, Dia is eventually kidnapped by rebel fighters, who brainwash him into becoming a merciless child soldier.
Arnold Vosloo as Colonel Coetzee: A veteran military stategist, Coetzee fought in Angola during the 1980s alongside South Africa's notorious 32 Battalion. With the close of the South African Border War, he began traveling abroad in search of fresh blood to spill. Coetzee presently heads a mercenary unit in Sierra Leone with numerous ties to the diamond industry.

Sound Track

Blood Diamond: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the film of the same name, released on December 19, 2006 by Varèse Sarabande. It was composed by James Newton Howard, and won the "Soundtrack of the Year" at the 2008 Classical BRIT Awards.