Director:Edward Zwick
Cast:Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, Djimon Hounsou, Arnold Vosloo, Kagiso Kuypers


The story of Blood Diamond is set in the backdrop of civil war in Sierra Leone where trade of conflict diamonds have taken deep roots. Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), a man with a strong survival instinct, has made himself to be a key player in this illegal diamond trade. Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), a fisherman, is kidnapped by the rebels to work in a diamond mine. He dreams of his son becoming a doctor someday. While working in a rebel diamond mine he finds a large pink diamond. The commandant of the rebel force sees him hiding the diamond & but the force gets attacked by the govt army in the mean time. Archer also comes to know of this discovery of a pink diamond by Solomon & releases him from prison & makes a deal with him to have the diamond in exchange of Solomon’s missing family. In finding the missing family of Solomon Danny takes help from American journalist Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly). They later find out Solomon’s wife & daughters but come to know that his son has been recruited by the rebel army. In the end both Solomon & Danny together finds the son & Maddy Bowen exposes the bigwigs behind this illegal diamond trade in Europe.
Blood Diamond really succeeds in bringing out the horror of conflict diamond trade. It is the quintessential action thriller with a subtext of morality. Performance wise it was flawless. DiCaprio plays the role of an African mercenary perfectly. His African English accent will sure leave the viewers wondering how he managed to achieve that. Jennifer Connelly plays the part of an idealistic American journalist with as much perfection. Djimon Hounsou succeeds in getting the audience’s sympathy for having kidnapped his child. Fast paced actions combined with the brutality that human beings are capable of causing gives out quite a realistic picture of civil war torn countries of Africa. Director Edward Zwick not only succeeds in getting the best out of every actor in the movie but also gives out a moral statement in very subtle way without sounding too preachy about it. Blood Diamond is joy to watch & therefore should be seen by one & all.