Blood Diamond Ali

Blood Diamond is a movie about Africa taking place in 1998. Africa is at war over diamonds. This movie is very graphic and violent just like the book, A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. I would highly recommend this movie. It truly shows how ugly war can be especially if children are involved. One of the main themes within this movie is Never Give Up. I say this because the father in the movie Solomon he never gives up on getting his family, and with his drive and compassion for them he gets exactly what he wanted and more. This movie adds to the book A Long Way gone because they are basically the same thing but now after seeing the movie visualizing the book is a whole lot easier. Things that were similar between the two are, people were killed and captured by rebels; young boys were taught how to use guns and how to kill people; The United States was protecting African citizens; and an old man was left all alone in a village. This movie educates viewers by telling us that not all is right in the world, that they're are still child soldiers in the world. It teaches us that we seem to focus on ourselves and our country and not everyone else that seems to be suffering for the basic necessities for everyday life. One thing that was really meaningful to me was when Solomon finds his family but he is not allowed to see them. This part in the movie breaks my heart because you can truly see how much he cares for his family, and how frustrated he is. Solomon travelled all that way to be separated just by a fence from his family. Another thing that I thought was unforgettable was when the camera showed two five year old boys with huge guns in their hand having them shooting at manikins. This just blew me away how graphic and how messed up that was. Dialogue was very important within this film by portraying a character and their feelings. Maddie the journalist stated this " people wouldn't be buying rings back home, if they knew it cost someone else their hand". This describes her character very well because, it is crazy how no one knows what else is going on in the world, and this is her goal to let everyone know how hard other people lives are. Another important point of dialogue is, " how can my own people do this to one another". Solomon said this. This is important because why would people in general let alone people from the same country, would run around killing one another over something as little as diamonds. Tony Medley wrote a review of this movie and stated "Most of us take the nice, soft life we have for granted. We rarely stop to think about what it's like in other parts of the world". I learned that this is an issue that everyone should address. We need to stop being so focused on our well being, and worry about the people that are starving down the street. It should be our goal to help everyone, many of us are blessed with healthy life and a steady income. Not everyone gets that privilege, so why not start helping our human race succeed, and strive for everyone to live a long and happy life.

African boys training for war