Blood Diamond Review, Journal 5- Estelle

Blood Diamond takes place in Sierra Leone, during a civil war in 1999. The country is broken up between rebel factions, known as the Revolutionary United Front and the government. These rebels terrorize the locals in such a horrible way and often enslave them to harvest diamonds. Blood diamonds are diamonds that are mined in war zones to help finance the war. Diamond companies around the world buy these diamonds which gives profit to the warlords. This leads to the development of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. The main characters in this film are Danny Archer, Solomon Vandy, and Maddy Bowen.

I would recommend this film. I personally liked it. To me it told the story in a very detailed perspective. It makes you realize the effects of war. You are actually able to visualize it and see how people behaved during this time in Africa. It shows you what these people did to families and kids. They didn't care about anything other than the money. I started to think about all of the diamonds in stores and where they could have come from. It made me not want to own one because I don't know where it truly came from and if people died because of it, I wouldn't want any part of owning it. It also shows you what someone would be willing to go through to get their family back even when you don't have any hope in seeing them again. There's always hope.

Solomon and his son once he was able to find him. 

Blood Diamond gives you a better understanding of what these child soldiers went through and how their lives were flipped upside down. Their childhoods were completely stripped from them and forced them to lose their humanities. These men made them do things they would never imagine doing if they would of never been taken captive. This is a big theme in A Long Way Gone. Being able to visualize what these kids are turned into compared to reading about it hits you harder. 

Many of the reviews I read on MRQE had a sort of sarcastic tone throughout them. Eye for Film wrote, "it sets up formulaic situations and then deftly dodges them, as if a straightforward narrative would be too smooth and false in such a combustible continent.".  Although there were many other reviews that gave a good rating and thought the movie was good. I was not very surprised at what was said. Many people have different opinions about how a movie should be.