I watched "Blood Diamond" again today. The movie is very long, more than two hours, I still finished it in one go. As early as when I was in junior high school, I saw this movie on the Jade Terrace in Hong Kong. What impressed me the most at that time was the African continent full of exotic and primitive colors and the huge change in Leonardo's appearance... And today it is The second time I watched the movie, I had a lot of new experiences.
The film is set during the Sierra Leone Civil War in the 1990s. Sierra Leone is located in West Africa and was once a British colony. Its domestic mineral resources are extremely rich, so the pillar industry is the mining industry. The movie revolves around diamonds.
By the way, blood diamonds do not refer to the color of the diamond, but to the diamonds mined in war zones and sold on the market.
The African continent has always been synonymous with poverty, backwardness, bloodshed and violence. Most of the people who came from this land have suffered more or less mental and physical trauma. Danny Archer, the protagonist played by Leonardo in the film, is a former Zimbabwean mercenary who makes a living by doing diamonds and arms trading, not a good kind. The other protagonist, Solomon Vendi, is a local fisherman who is honest and responsible. The two who seem to have no intersection are connected because of a blood diamond...
I won't go into details about the direction of the plot, and here I will only talk about a few points that impressed me.
1. Boy Scouts
At the beginning of the film, the brutal rebel Revolutionary United Front (FDC) bloodbathed the village where the protagonist Solomon lived. There were many children in their 10s who participated in the bloodbath, some even looked younger, which made people shudder after watching. . After the bloodbath of the village, the rebels captured many children, and the protagonist Solomon's son Dia was also taken away. The rebels trained these children to be ruthless killers without actually abusing them. But it was even more terrifying. The film does not exaggerate the size and energy of the Boy Scouts, because Foday Sankoh, the leader of the FDC during the Sierra Leone Civil War in the 90s, did have a large, brutal, and ruthless scout. As the movie shows, they were heavily brainwashed and emboldened by practicing killing. The protagonist's son, Dia, was so brainwashed that he didn't even want to recognize him when his father found him. According to historical records, Boy Scouts in Africa have a long history, dating back to the Mali and Songhai Empires in the Middle Ages. The Congo, the Boy Scouts that existed among the Zulu people, were also recorded by Europeans during their conquest of Africa in the 19th century. At the time of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, the average age of soldiers in some Ethiopian regiments was only 16! Don't be fooled by the frail appearance of African children, they may be the most fighting children in the world!
The problem of mercenaries in Africa
Danny Archer, played by Leonardo in the film, was originally a mercenary, which sparked my interest in the issue of mercenaries in Africa. According to information, African mercenaries have existed since the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Africa is a paradise for mercenaries. This situation is inextricably linked to the turbulent situation in Africa. The mercenary who pays for his life only accepts money, so as soon as Archer appears on the stage, we can feel the copper-smelling ruffian that wants to make a fortune in war. Leonardo also plays very vividly. In order to celebrate the truth, the good and the beautiful, the movie makes Archer a person with a conscience, but in fact, I believe that in this chaotic and dangerous land in Africa, it should be difficult for a real mercenary to have good intentions.
Human history tells us that war is always linked to the struggle for money interests. The reason why a diamond attracts a large number of people is because it can bring huge economic benefits. In order to prevent the blood diamond from falling into the hands of mercenaries, Archer, who was shot, handed it back to Solomon and finally used it in the right way. I believe that countless people have to be moved after seeing it. When you want to buy diamonds for your girlfriend, the memory of the plot of the movie comes to mind, will you be shocked? Maybe this is another diamond with a story and a bloody story...
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