HORRIBLE STORIES BEHIND THE PERFECT STONES

They say that diamonds are forever. But they forget that there’s no such thing like forever in this world, not even your own life. Since a long time ago, people highly respect the value of the sparkling stones called diamonds. Flawless and perfect diamonds are rare. So rare and priceless that people are willing to kill each other in order to keep them.

It’s extremely difficult to obtain diamonds from the face of earth. It takes a long search and tiring work to separate the valuables from the useless. How these precious stones managed to arrive in front of our eyes in the form of rings, necklaces, and other kinds of jewelries from the wilderness is totally another story. The trading of diamonds conceals its own dark secrets. This movie tells great stories about them.

Directed by Edward Zwick, Blood Diamond unravels the dark and gloomy side of the diamonds’ trading path that started at a place called Sierra Leone. The story focused itself on a fisherman named Solomon Vandy (played by Djimon Hounsou), an ex mercenary who turned smuggler named Danny Archer (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), and a journalist named Maddy Bowen (played by Jennifer Connelly).

Solomon was a fisherman who was separated from his family due to brutal invasion launched by the RUF (the rebel force against the government) that totally destroyed his village. His family was abducted while he was sold to become a slave. Danny Archer played an important role and became a key player in the diamond trading business. The only problem was he bought diamonds in the conflict area with illegal manners. The story got more exciting as Maddy Bowen the American journalist tried to squeeze information about the illegal diamond trade from Danny. Each of them had their own purposes and interest that made them ventured danger together.

The country was in total chaos with wars and criminals everywhere. The rebels and the government were at war. The rebels viciously attacked villages, killed the weak, and kept the strong to become their armies or slaves. Solomon, Danny and Maddy were stuck in the middle of the war, massacre, and diamond conflict, while trying their best to accomplish their own goals… The goals which depended on one perfect diamond that stands in their ways.

We could see that people will try their best to cooperate whether they like it or not, if they have very important purposes or goals to be achieved. They would have to cooperate as their life depends on it. The story led us to one big question, “Can one perfect diamond buy a path to a happy family, freedom, and justice?” As those were the three purposes that they tried to reach.

Ivan the Freelancer