Amid the bloody chaos of the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone in 1999, dexterous businessmen are trying to make money by taking advantage of the created anarchy. The 2006 film "Blood Diamond" shows the story of a former soldier who hunted gemstones for smuggling. The premiere of the picture caused a wave of criticism of the authorities of the South African Republic with allegations of human rights violations.
general information
Adventure drama directed by Edward Zwick at Warner Bros. Studios Two actors tried on the main role of a young smuggler engaged in the search and sale of precious stones. In the final list, the creators of the picture had two names: Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio. As a result, the role of Danny Archer went to the latter. For the second significant male role was chosen Jimon Honsu, known for the films "Gladiator", "Constantine. Lord of Darkness" and many others. Black American actor played African fisherman Solomon Wandy. The main female role was chosen by Jennifer Connelly, who received an Oscar for the film "Mind Games". In a small role in the film appeared the famous Indian actor Gaurav Chopra.
The script was written by Charles Leavitt and S. Gabi Mitchell, who for this very deeply studied the diamond industry. The Blood Diamond soundtrack was written by the popular California composer Howard James Newton, who helped create about a hundred films, including Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Green de Wald, Lemony Snicket: 33 Misfortunes, and I'm Legend. The film entered in 2006 the number of the top ten, received many nominations for the most prestigious film awards and an award for Best Supporting Actor (Jimon Hones) from the National Council of Film Critics of the United States.
Plot
The name of the painting refers to the so-called bloody diamonds, which are mined in war zones and then sold, to then finance their continuation. Since human rights are not respected in the zone of military conflicts, and mining is often carried out using slave labor, sellers (field commanders and diamond world companies) receive very high profits.
In 1999, a bloody civil war erupted in Sierra Leone. The fisherman Solomon Wandy is captured by revolutionary rebels during the massacre in the village. A strong man is sent to work in diamond mines, and his son is recruited into the "children's army." Solomon finds a huge pink diamond and tries to hide the find, but unsuccessfully.
Chasing the pink diamond
After being released by government forces, he goes to prison, from where he is freed by Danny Archer, a former military man who is now engaged in diamond smuggling. They agree that Solomon will show the place where the diamond is, in exchange for Archer helping him find his family.
Under the guise of cameramen under the journalist Maddy Bowen, partners cross the border, for this they must provide material for the report, revealing the scheme of the blood diamond business. To look indifferent at the crimes committed by the dealers, she considers unacceptable. After a series of adventures, they save their son and mine a diamond.
Data
The film "Blood Diamond" ends with a scene where African fisherman Solomon Wandy sets off for a conference in Kimberly. He plans to tell about his story with a pink diamond found. A similar conference really took place in this city six years earlier (in 2000). The result of her work was the opening of the Kimberley Certification Process, which was designed to exclude from the market turnover of raw materials obtained illegally and in the zone of military conflicts.
Now all mined diamonds had to undergo a complex certification procedure in order to confirm their origin and authenticity in order to exclude events similar to those described in the picture.
Public reaction
The authors of the script for the movie "Blood Diamond" suggested that they might offend the diamond mining industry (including De Beers) because they fairly reliably portray the unsightly practices that exist in Africa. Subsequently, they wrote that De Beers, the largest company in the world with a market share of about 37%, was afraid that the film would cause a drop in demand and a wave of public outrage. And they even suggested that the creators of the picture put a message in the credits that all the events have no real basis.
The harshest reaction to The Blood Diamond was in South Africa, where government officials were harshly criticized for serious human rights abuses. Official representatives of the government noted that events like those described in the picture took place many years ago, when civil liberties of the population were really violated. Currently, the share of illegal diamond mining does not exceed 1% and slave labor is practically not used. The authorities suggested that the leading performers visit the diamond mining enterprises and personally verify compliance with all international laws.