Stars: Basil Wallace, Jennifer Connelly, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Sheen, Jimi Mistry, Djimon Hounsou

Director: Edward Zwick

Summary: In war-torn Sierra Leone, a white African diamond smuggler offers to help a fisherman find his family in return for a precious stone. They are joined in their search by an American journalist who is covering the diamond conflict.

Set in Sierra Leone, BLOOD DIAMOND explores the role of diamond trading in the African civil war of the late 1990s. Narrowly escaping death when his village is invaded by Revolutionary United Front (RUF) militia, fisherman Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) is enslaved at a diamond mine and has his family taken away from him. When he discovers an unusually large stone he buries it, knowing it might be his only means of retrieving his family. While Vandy is imprisoned, white African diamond smuggler Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) overhears an angry RUF leader shouting at the farmer about the missing diamond. Seizing the opportunity, he gets Vandy out of jail, then offers to help find his family in return for half the stone’s worth. United by a common goal, the two men clash over drastically different values, but manage to stick together in pursuit of the prize. Meanwhile, Archer crosses paths with intrepid American journalist Maddie Bowen (Jennifer Connolly), whose obsession with uncovering the truth about conflict diamonds lands her in the middle of the bloody action. As the three embark on a dangerous journey filled with close calls, unlikely bonds form that threaten to change Archer’s unfeeling ways. Meanwhile, a subplot involving Vandy’s beloved son shows us the horror being done to and by child soldiers at the hands of the so-called freedom-fighting rebel forces. Addressing a serious subject with passion and skill, director Edward Zwick (THE LAST SAMURAI) delivers impressive action sequences that feel horrifically real without seeming excessive. While some critics have lambasted the film for its Hollywood elements, no one can argue against BLOOD DIAMOND's noble intentions or its stellar performances. To most viewers, the film is likely to provide a disturbing and educational insight into a world many know little about.

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Leonardo DiCaprio puts a handsome face on an ugly industry: In parts of Africa, diamond mining fuels civil warfare, killing thousands of innocents and drafting preteen children as vicious soldiers. DiCaprio (The Departed) plays Danny Archer, a white African soldier-turned-diamond-smuggler who gets wind of a large raw jewel found by Solomon Vandy, a native fisherman (Djimon Hounsou, In America) recently escaped from enslavement by a brutal rebel leader. Archer offers a deal: He'll help Vandy find his war-scattered family if Vandy will share the diamond with him. Drawn into this web of exploitation is journalist Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly, Little Children), who agrees to help if Archer will tell her the details of how conflict diamonds make their way into the hands of the corporations who sell them to the Western world. DiCaprio is compelling because he never flinches from Archer's utter ruthlessness; Archer ends up doing the morally justifiable thing, but only because his desperate greed has led him to it. Hounsou and Connelly, though saddled with all the moral and political speeches, rise above the cant and keep the movie's treacherously formulaic plot rooted in human characters. But in the end, the story won't stick with you as much as the dead stillness in the child soldiers' eyes; the horror of African civil strife refuses to be contained by Blood Diamond's uplifting message--and the movie is all the more potent as a result. --Bret Fetzer

Aspect Ratio:	16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Director's commentary , Theatrical Trailer
Year:	2006
Release Date:	June 18, 2007
Runtime:	138 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	D Y 11762
Keywords:	English, Blood, General, Conflict, Diamond, Sierra, Drama, Leone
Genre:	Drama