Blood Diamond (15)

What’s it about?
A fisherman’s way of life and family is torn apart by the resistance group Revolutionary United Front (the RUF) who ransack his village and enslave him in the diamond mines. He finds and manages to hide a rare pink diamond, starting on a race to save his family, outwitting the government, RUF and diamond smugglers in the process.

Highs n lows
A harrowing insight into the little known world of diamond smuggling, and the high human toll that surrounds it. Set against the backdrop of civil war and chaos in 1990's Sierra Leone, it captures the reality of the country with a great deal of violence, but violence which is realistic portrayal of to what happened there. You come away with a real sense of why people want to escape the living hell of life in war torn countries. A council estate and minimum wage here is paradise in comparison.

Director Edward Zwick and writer Charles Leawitt have been bold enough to tackle (successfully) in graphic detail, the issue of the kidnap and indoctrination of child soldiers as an integral part of the story, which is played out through the uneasy triangle formed by 3 characters bound together by their own interests. Leonardo DiCaprio cultivates a convincing South African accent and puts in a strong performance as South African mercenary (Danny Archer). Djimon Hounsou is magnificent as the big hearted and not so simple Mende fisherman Solomon Vandy. Whilst the third major role is Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly) an American journalist, Connelly is Marjorly upstaged by David Harewood who is evil personified in a small part as Captain Poison, responsible for indoctrinating child soldiers and running the diamond mines.

Ultimately this is a movie with a dual message. One about what is precious - Djimon Nounsou sums this up “Archer is pursuing a diamond, but Solomon’s diamond is his son.” The other about how our actions can fund war in other countries. We can all do something about this by thinking twice about where our jewellery may have come from, and only purchasing from retailers who can guarantee the diamonds they sell are conflict – free.

Is it any good?
4 out of 5 – riveting.
The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) is a self regulating agreement between diamond exporting nations “to monitor effectively the trade in rough diamonds in order to detect and to prevent trade in conflict diamonds.” It requires all diamonds to come with government certificates proving that the diamonds were mined in that country and are not benefiting rebel armies.