Blood Diamond (film)

Blood Diamond is a 2006 drama film co-produced and directed by Edward Zwick and 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 1996-1999, 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 diamonds in order to curb the trade in conflict diamonds. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Actor (DiCaprio) and Best Supporting Actor (Hounsou).

Plot

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. Instead of cutting off his hands, Solomon is enslaved to work as a miner in the diamond fields under the command of warlord Captain Poison (David Harewood), while his son Dia (Kagiso Kuypers) is conscripted into the rebel forces and...
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