Watching on Wednesday: Blood Diamond

Title: Blood Diamond
Type: Movie
Age Group: Older Teens +
Release Year: 2006
My Rating: 4/5

Based on true events of today, Blood Diamond is about African war zones that deal with illegal diamonds. Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) is a fisherman who is captured by the militia group, RUF, and is forced to work in the diamond fields. Meanwhile, his son is taken and brainwashed by the RUF, turning a young innocent boy into a ruthless killer.

Solomon discovers a large diamond in which he proceeds to hide it, close to getting himself killed. Enter Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), a man who smuggles diamonds across the borders and into the world market. He knows that Solomon knows of the diamond's whereabouts and wants it in order to leave Africa. He promises Solomon he would find his family for him in return for the diamond.

Beyond the intense action-packed scenes, the audience will be exposed to the horrors that exist this very moment in Blood Diamond.

I generally avoid movies like Blood Diamond but this time I had to watch because it was for school. Gruesome, this movie will have those not used to watching films that are based on horrific real-time events in shock. I admit, I never liked watching Leonardo DiCaprio after Titantic because his movies later on weren't so great. Although I found his fake accent to be really off, he played a pretty good role for this film.

Throughout the movie, I was incredibly tensed because I kept fearing for the characters. It was very well done because the actors and the situations were made to be very real, having the audience entranced by a world different from theirs (if they are not of that war-torn area).

It was definitely an interesting film to watch. I don't think I would want to watch it again but I think everyone should see it at least once, even if they are not into those kinds of plot.