Journal 5 : Blood Diamond review Noel

From watching the movie Blood Diamond directed by Edward Zwick, I have come to realized even more of the horrors that Ishmael Beah went through. This movie stars Leonardo DeCaprio as Danny Archer, Djimon Hounsou as Solomon Vandy, and Jennifer Connelly as Maddy Bowen. This movie I think portrays what is going on in Africa very well. Although A Long Way Gone does not have blood diamonds involved both of these include the cruel and devastating affects of child soldiers and the RUF.

In the movie Solomon (Djimon Hounsou) was affected greatly by the RUF and the lust for diamonds. Solomon and his family's village were attacked by the rebels and Solomon was taken and his wife and children fled for safety. Not only did Solomon get captured in the movie but he was forced to look for diamonds for the RUF to sell and get more guns. On top of all this Solomon's son Dia played by Kagiso Kuypers, was later captured by the rebels and forced to become a child soldier. Dia was pretty much brainwashed just like the other child soldiers. All of the violence was because of Diamonds which the RUF made people search for. This story about Solomon was a very touching and hard topic. Even though Hollywood may exaggerates some of the events it still covers the realness of this issue. Even today there is still a problem with blood diamonds and many lives are taken because of it. Child soldiers can kill without thinking twice, even their family or friends. Like Beah they are trained with weapons they have never seen in their lives.

After reading some of the reviews, many people take this movie in different ways. There are some who think the movie is over dramatized and others who think is is important. There are some who criticize Leonardo DeCaprio but others say he is the perfect fit for this movie. A quote that caught my eye was written by Manohla Dargis.
"The tragedy of Sierra Leone and the complicity of Americans, who buy more diamonds than any other consumers in the world, deserve louder, more clamorous attention than the occasional news report. And certainly big-budget Hollywood action films are plenty loud and plenty clamorous, and the volume is only turned up to shrieking with the addition of the international heartthrob who, by sacrificing himself on the altar of love in “Titanic,”conquered a generation of young female fans (the same demographic most likely to brandish a rock on its ring finger)."

Workers in Sierra Leone search for diamonds at a government-run mine