There isn't a woman alive who doesn't love diamonds. Even the super left wing chicks who saw Blood Diamond and cried. When they get a diamond, they like, "Yeah, bitch, get more of them blood diamonds! Make 'em extra bloody."
Blood Diamond is a 2006 film about blood diamonds. It was directed by Edward Zwick and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly. Set during the Sierra Leone Civil War in 1999, the film shows a country torn apart by the struggle between government soldiers and rebel forces. It follows two main points of view. Solomon Vandy is a Mende fisherman; his village is attacked and his son taken to be a child soldier, and the rest of his family goes missing while he himself winds up working in a slave camp. Danny Archer is an Anglo-African amoral ex-mercenary from Zimbabwe (though he adamantly keeps referring to it as Rhodesia) and diamond smuggler. He is arrested trying to smuggle diamonds by using a herd of goats as cover, and meets Solomon while in prison.Solomon had discovered a large diamond during his time as a slave, and hidden it carefully before he is arrested during an attack on the slave camp he was working at. The only other person who knows about the diamond is the commander of the slave camp, Captain Poison, who quickly places a bounty on Solomon's head. When Danny hears about the diamond, he offers to help Solomon find his scattered family in exchange for it. They are soon joined on their quest by American reporter Maddy Bowen.Not to be confused with the similarly named DocumentaryBlood Diamonds.
this film provides examples of:
A-Team Firing: The poorly-trained RUF rebels just fire their guns in the general direction of the enemy and hope that they hit something. Danny, who is a well-trained mercenary, mostly fires in semi-auto or bursts, and manages to own loads of hostile ass.
Don't call him a "kaffir," either; basically the African equivalent of "nigger". Truth in television, using that word around Africans is very, VERY bad form.
Chekhov's Gunship: The Mi-24 helicopter was seen flying around the merc base before the diamond mine assault.
A Child Shall Lead Them: A rather dark take on this trope, though there is some humor when a teacher mentions that the local warlord is still afraid of his ruler on his knuckles.
Curb-Stomp Battle: As soon as the mercs' Hind shows up at the mining camp, you know what's about to happen.
Dating Catwoman: Danny and Mandy constantly joke about how they plan to "screw" while remaining wary of each other since Danny knows she's a reporter. He finally caves in and gives her the information she needs midway through the film, but they're forced to separate and never see each other again.
In reality De Beers had no links to Executive Outcomes this time; Executive Outcomes were hired by the Sierra Leonean government for fifteen million dollars (although contrary to popular belief they were not also a mining company and did not receive "diamond mining concessions" or diamonds as payment. They retook the diamond fields the rebels used to raise funds but did not mine there or take any diamonds from the fields.) Since the U.N. and Clinton Administration pressured the Sierra Leonean government to kick EO out of the country once they had brought peace the diamond mines were quickly back in the hands of the rebels as peace collapsed a few months later.
Elites Are More Glamorous: Danny and Colonel Coetzee are former members of 32 Battalion, an infamous light infantry and reconnaissance unit from The Apartheid Era. How badass were they? Suffice to say, an officer from the Battalion eventually went on to found Executive Outcomes, one of the most successful modern Private Military Companies ever, and recruited exclusively ex-32's and other elites.
Evil Versus Evil: The rebels are bad guys, the government they overthrew are bad guys, and the white African mercenaries are bad guys. Lampshaded by Danny.
Bittersweet Ending: Solomon escapes with the diamond and is reunited with his family. Maddy exposes the blood diamond trade. Danny, directly responsible for both of these outcomes, dies slowly on a hill in Africa after being gutshot.
Foe Tossing Charge: Danny pursuing Dia during the battle at the mining camp.
Foreshadowing "This is home. You'll never leave Africa".
Freudian Excuse: As a child, Danny witnessed the brutal murder of his parents by the rebels who overthrew Rhodesia and created Zimbabwe, and a rather similar situation is true of the child soldiers he encounters.
Captain Poison claims he has one, though whether this comes even remotely close to gaining him sympathy points is very debatable.
He Who Fights Monsters: Although there's no real indication he was ever a good guy, Captain Poison justifies his behavior this way:
Poison: You think I am a devil. But that is because I've lived in hell. I want out.
Hero Tracking Failure: Averted, During a shootout in the bush, Danny rolls behind some tree cover to avoid being shot. The gunman attempts to shoot him through the trees, but fails to notice that Danny didn't roll as far as the gunman thought.
Honor Before Reason: Solomon will do anything to get his son, which nearly gets them killed multiple times and makes him very easy for the greedier characters to exploit.
Hot Scoop: Maddy. "If you saw this girl, you would not forget it."
Instant Death Bullet: Rebels who get shot fall down immediately. But there are three exceptions: Colonel Coetzee, Kapanay, and Danny.
Just Plane Wrong: A very minor case of it, though. Danny's plane is an Australian Gippsland GA8 Airvan, which only existed as an incomplete prototype in 1999.
The Airvan is, however, a good representative of the types of single-engine planes common in Africa.
Large Ham: Solomon has his moments (generally when he's angry).
Made of Iron: Danny takes a bullet which puts him in a lot of pain, but still manages to protect Solomon and get him to the plane. He manages a last phone call to Maddy before dying.
Magic Feather: A fairly tragic one, as Dia's identity as child-soldier "See-Me-No-More" is tied up in the cap that Poison gave him as part of his promotion. When that gets knocked off in the climactic battle, he reverts to plain old Dia... until having someone killed right in front of him.
Misplaced Wildlife: A slight example: cheetahs don't live in Sierra Leone or any of her neighboring countries. Elephants, though extremely rare, can still be found there.
Mood Dissonance: Given the tone of the film, pretty much every single time they make a joke. The biggest is probably when Danny makes a joke while he's dying, and both men laugh.
Partial Truth in Television - in stressful situations, even the lamest joke can get those involved busting a gut, since it helps dissipate the emotional strain. Of course, it also helped that the joke in question was getting a bit of long-riding tension out in the open.
Solomon: I thought you would try to take it from me.
Danny: It occurred to me.
Not So Different: Danny and Poison both want the diamond so they can get out of Africa.
The Obi-Wan: Benjamin meets Danny, challenges his world view, and is non-fatally shot, all within ten minutes.
Oscar Bait: Five nominations, no wins. (Hounsou won three Supportings, though).
Pet the Dog: Some of Captain Poison's displays of kindness to Dia Vandy seem to go beyond simply trying to brainwash him. In particular, when the helicopter attacks he looks like he's trying to shield Dia with his own body.
Private Military Contractors: And from an absurdly powerful company too, with at least a transport plane and a gunship. Most likely based on Executive Outcomes, which was even more absurdly powerful and did fight in the Sierra Leone conflict.
Running Gag: Danny falling asleep in the transport du jour.
Any experienced soldier would tell you that this is the most realistic thing about the character.
Scary Black Man: Solomon is probably the most sympathetic character, but give him a shovel and a few close-ups of his guttural screams, and you've got one scary dude.
Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Danny is way down on the cynical side. Maddy is further towards the idealistic end (and even lampshades Danny's cynicism), although she appears to be actively struggling to actually stay there. The movie itself, while extremely dark and brutal, manages to end on a decisively idealistic (although bittersweet) note.
Villainous Rescue / Gunship Rescue: The South African mercenaries obliterating the blood diamond mining camp with a Mi-24 Hind gunship. Also a technical Moment of Awesome since it was the first scene in any feature film, ever, to feature the aircraft*
Specifically the widely exported Hind-D model with twin bubble canopy, the Hind-A model has appeared in several movies
.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: Solomon, one of the few completely sympathetic characters in the film.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Done by The Mercenaries to Danny and Solomon, telling them they do not wish to share the profits and wished to erase all evidence involving them.
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