Welcome to Movie Shortens. Follow us today to a 2006 American political war action thriller film called: Blood Diamond. Before we start, be aware: there are spoilers!
The movie is set in war-torn Sierra Leone, in 1999. We meet a local fisherman, Solomon Vandy and his family. Solomon is walking with his son Dia, when suddenly groups of The Revolutionary United Front RUF rebels attack his village.
His wife, Jassie, and his family escape, but Solomon is captured by the rebels. All the surviving men and young boys are rounded up. The leader of the rebels, Captain Poison claims that “no hands means no voting.
” Luckily, Solomon is allowed to keep his hands but he is taken away to work in the diamond mines. In the next scene, men talk about how diamonds are mined and sold to fund civil war. Van De Kapp, a big time diamond importer is there.
Elsewhere, Captain Poison watches captured men searching for diamonds. A man finds a diamond and tries to hide it in his mouth, but is then shot by the Captain. Sometime later, we meet Danny Archer, a South African smuggler and ex-soldier.
He’s met and taken to Commander Zero, who pays him in diamonds. In the next scene, Danny poses as a photographer and is stopped by soldiers, who find the hidden diamonds. He tries to bribe the soldiers and says he’s good friends with Colonel Coetzee /koot·see/, but it doesn’t work and he’s arrested.
In the diamond mines, Solomon finds a giant pink diamond. He then secretly hides it between his toes, and sneaks off to bury it. Captain Poison finds him, but as he does the army attacks and the Captain is hurt.
Solomon buries the diamond just before he is captured and taken to jail. Later in the prison, we see Danny, Solomon, and the injured Captain Poison, who asks Solomon where the diamond is. It’s the biggest diamond he’s ever seen.
Danny listens to them talk, as the Captain is taken away. Danny is eventually set free and makes a plan to get Solomon out of jail. The plan works - now Danny and Solomon are both free.
Some time passes and Danny meets Maddy Bowen, a pretty woman, at a beachside bar. They talk and flirt, and she asks if he’s a smuggler. Danny replies he is a soldier of fortune and laughs.
Danny learns that she’s a journalist when she asks for information on smuggling and Van De Kapp. He tells her to get lost and walks off. Elsewhere, Dia is found and taken away by the RUF rebels.
Danny flies to Cape Town, and is brought to see Colonel Coetzee /koot·see/. The Colonel is being hired to kill the rebels, and he knows Danny is looking for the big diamond. Somehow Danny tracks down Solomon, as we see Dia, and other young boys being beaten by RUF rebels.
The children are being brainwashed and turned into child soldiers. Dia is blindfolded and forced to kill a young man. Soon after, Captain Poison makes him a captain in his child army.
It’s nighttime now, as Danny gets a gun from the beachside bar, and bumps into Maddy again. They dance and start to flirt but things get awkward and she leaves. You can feel the tension building between them.
The next day, army soldiers patrol the streets, and things start to get crazy as Danny talks with Solomon about the diamond again. Danny tells Solomon he got him out of jail and says he’ll help him find his family. Suddenly, all hell breaks loose, as the RUF attacks the city and Danny and Solomon run for their lives.
People are dying everywhere, as Danny and Solomon run through the streets. Cars are set on fire and people scream as they are shot. With the rebels on one side and the army on the other, Danny and Solomon take cover as the fighting continues.
They hide in an old building and Danny watches as the RUF execute the army soldiers. The army has lost the fight. That night, the city burns, as the RUF celebrate their victory over the army.
The city looks like a warzone as we see child soldiers celebrating. Somehow, Danny and Solomon escape and the next morning we see them trying to cross a bridge. The bridge is guarded by RUF so Danny pretends to be Solomon’s prisoner and shoots the guards.
Solomon looks shocked as he sees how good Danny is with a gun. Sometime later, Danny and Solomon make their way to a base camp. Danny pretends to be a reporter and meets a cool looking guy with a camera.
He asks if he knows Maddy and says he has the story she’s looking for. Maddy arrives soon after and Danny says he has information on Van De Kapp, but Maddy has to help Solomon find his family. She knows Danny is using Solomon but agrees to help anyway.
In the next scene, Maddy tells Solomon she’s found his family. They walk to a massive refugee camp, and Maddy gives a soldier paper with the names of Solomon’s family. Maddy takes photos through the fence as Solomon scans the groups for his family.
There are people everywhere, but Solomon spots his wife and family. They run to the fence and hold hands as Jassie tells him Dia was taken by the RUF. Solomon screams as soldiers hit him through the fence – it’s a heartbreaking scene.
After the emotional scene, we see a sad looking Solomon inside a helicopter with Maddy and Danny. His family will not be released until the war is over, and he tells Danny the diamond is buried nearby. Solomon looks depressed as he talks to Danny about his son, and Danny goes to talk with Maddy.
She argues with him and says people back home wouldn’t buy a diamond ring if they knew it cost someone else their hand. Danny asks her to help them get to Kono – he’ll be a journalist and Solomon will be the camera man. When she says no, Danny starts to tell her how the diamonds are smuggled and moved around different countries.
Van De Kapp knows all about it and controls the market prices of diamonds. Danny shows Maddy a book with names, dates, and bank accounts to help her story. His life is in her hands now.
Soon after, Danny, Maddy, and Solomon get on a bus full of journalists and they head off to Kono. They have an army escort and they stop when they find an ambushed group of people on the side of the road. Suddenly, they are attacked by the RUF.
Solomon gets into a car with Danny and everyone else - they drive away from the gunshots. Now we get to see inside the RUF base where child soldiers are partying everywhere. They are given guns and take on cool names, to sound tough.
Baby Killer, The Master of Disaster, and Dia is now, See Me No More. They attack and kill villagers. Meanwhile, back in the car, the driver is shot and the journalists are attacked and killed.
Danny kicks the body out of the car and tries to drive away from the RUF. There are some tense action scenes as the RUF chases Danny, until he crashes the car. Soon after, we see that Danny, Maddy, and Solomon have escaped into the jungle where they are being watched by local militia.
They are scary looking, but Maddy manages to talk to them and even takes a selfie with them. Ubani, the leader, takes them through the jungle, to a house with lots of children outside. We meet Ben, who runs a school and tries to help former RUF child soldiers.
The next day, Ben is driving when he is shot. Danny and the others are in the car, and quickly take him to Colonel /koot·see/ Coetzee’s army base for help. At the army base, Danny is told he has to join with the Colonel and fight, and Maddy is told to evacuate.
Danny gives Maddy the book, to help her report and gets some supplies. Maddy gives Danny her number and takes his photo before she gets on the plane. The love is sparkling between these two.
Soon after, Danny and Solomon run off and go searching for the diamond. Later that night, Danny and Solomon are shot at by the RUF when Solomon thinks he sees Dia. They hide in the jungle and later we see them walking through a burnt down village.
There is an RUF camp nearby and Danny and Solomon fight when Solomon tries to go off looking for Dia. It gets very emotional as Solomon screams at Danny. While walking and talking about family, Danny tells Solomon if they find the diamond, he’ll quit smoking.
Later, Solomon talks about peaceful times and how good his son is. Sometime after, Danny and Solomon find the mining camp and Danny orders in an air strike. That night, Danny wakes up to find Solomon has gone down into the camp to look for Dia.
Solomon sneaks around the camp and finds his son, drinking and playing cards but Dia calls him the enemy and pushes him away. In the next scene, Captain Poison has captured Solomon and tells him he will find the diamond for him. If he doesn’t, the captain will find and kill his family.
As the Captain holds a knife to Dia’s neck the helicopters arrive and start their attack. We see Danny fighting the RUF as Colonel Coetzee /koot·see/ and the helicopter destroys the mining camp. It’s action time - Solomon kills Captain Poison, and Danny saves Dia.
After lots of fighting, the Colonel lands and tells Solomon to find the diamond for him. Of course he doesn’t trust the Colonel, so Danny offers up Dia. He’ll do anything to keep him safe.
They walk off, looking for the diamond and find a spot where men have already been digging. A few soldiers surround Solomon as he digs. Danny gets Solomon’s trust back by saying it’s about time he quits smoking.
A call back to earlier. They trick the soldiers and Danny shoots the Colonel. It’s not all good, Danny’s been shot.
Solomon finds the diamond and Dia pulls a gun on Danny. Solomon stands in front of Danny and tells his son he loves him and it will be okay. They aren’t safe just yet, they must run, and Danny calls his pilot in to pick them up.
Solomon picks Danny up and carries him up a mountain, but we see Danny is badly hurt. Danny gives Solomon back the diamond and tells him to call Maddy when they land. He says, don’t trust the pilot, and gives him a gun.
Suddenly, they are shot at. Danny stays back while Solomon and Dia run to safety. Danny calls Maddy and tells her to meet Solomon and Dia.
He moans in pain as he lays dying against a big rock, and the plane takes off. He starts to lose his breath as he tells Maddy he’s happy they met. Maddy sits with him in the last moments when Danny takes a handful of dirt and takes his last breaths.
We then later see Solomon and Maddy in London. Solomon gets in a car, where a man offers him a suitcase full of money for his diamond. Solomon wants his family safe and the money too.
That night, Solomon is reunited with his family at a small airport. He gives the man the diamond and we hear the camera clicking. Maddy is taking photos and we see her writing her article.
The movie ends with Solomon reading Maddy’s article on blood diamonds in a magazine. We see Danny’s picture in the article. Maddy smiles as Solomon walks into a room full of reporters.
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