In most of the world, diamonds are also known as bling bling. However, in Africa, its bling 'BANG!' and you're dead. Every time a new resource is discovered in Africa, Africans die. The Blood Diamond is set in the backdrop of civil chaos in Sierra Leone in the 1990s, a period when the Revolutionary United Front (R.U.F) fought fiercely against the government. These rebels force innocent villagers to harvest diamonds which they exchange for weapons and recruit young boys as child soldiers for their battle against the government.
Watching the depiction of the training of child soldiers was heart-aching. The boys were trained to fire at mannequins, taught to earn respect by taking lives and emblodened by witnessing one of their fellow child soldiers shooting at a defenceless African man. The effectiveness of such devious training was demonstrated when Dia, points a pistol at his own father, Soloman who was on the quest to recover a huge diamond he found in the fields while being forced to harvest diamonds for the R.U.F.
What was stood out as I watched the movie was how Danny Archer, a mercenary, was not exactly sure of his intentions as each of the three characters used each other for their own interests. Maddy Bowen is a humanistic journalist who was interested in digging out names of persons who are indirectly funding the civil war in Sierra Leone and she knows that Danny Archer can give her such information. Danny Archer is a mercenary smuggling weapons for rebels in exchange for diamonds and he wants Soloman Vandy to recover the mammoth pink diamond for him. Soloman Vandy wants his family with him and asks Danny Archer to locate his family in exchange for the recovery of the buried pink diamond. Danny uses Maddy Bowen to help Soloman meet his family so that Soloman will recover the diamond for him. I feel that while Danny Archer acted on his interests of profiting from the recovery of the diamond, he had a humane heart as well. This is not only demonstrated from his giving of the stone to Soloman and indirectly to Maddy , but in his aid to Soloman in finding his son in the rebel camp, though one may argue that this was only done so that Soloman will recover the pink diamond for him. The manner in which this was brought out was fascinating, how Danny Archer's intentions are not exactly clear, perhaps even to himself and that while he was just in it for money, he may have a benevolent side.
Also, his experience may have caused him to work for his own monetary interests. While he was in the 32 battalion fighting in Mongolia, he thought he was fighting the communists, but he realises that there were other interests of their superiors that they were fighting for. As such, he left the force and worked for his own interests.
Overall, The Blood Diamond is a great movie to watch. It brings out the chaos of the civil war, the inhumanity of the innocent blood shed and the interests of the 3 characters and how they manipulated each other. It also increases the awareness of such blood diamonds in sale together with other diamonds marketed in our peaceful world as well as the state of chaos that we do not experience.
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