Blood Diamond (2006)

Directed by Edward Zwick, director of Glory and The Last Samurai. In war-ravaged Sierra Leone, diamond smuggler Danny Archer learns that a local fisherman Solomon Vandy has stumbled upon a gigantic gem, and he offers to reunite the man with his family in exchange for the diamond. When Archer befriends a journalist Maddey Bowen tracing "blood diamonds" that finance terrorist groups, he's faced with a choice between riches and humanity. DiCaprio and Hounsou each earned Oscar nods.

I have to say this was one of the best films I ever saw (this is the second time Ive watched it since it came out and just had to share it with everyone here). It was an eye opener! It's quite graphic but comes from a place of truth and really made me re-evaluate purchasing diamonds. The acting was fantastic from all the characters. If your looking for a real action pack, strong story this is it (guys really like this type of film ladies, but as a woman you may shed some tears if you're the senative type)! A don't miss film!

Cast:

Leonardo DiCaprio -Danny Archer
Djimon Hounsou -Solomon Vandy
Jennifer Connelly -Maddy Bowen
Arnold Vosloo -Col. Coetzee
Kagiso Kuypers -Dia Vandy
Antony Coleman -Cordell Brown
Benu Mabhena -Jassie Vandy
Anointing Lukola -N'Yanda Vandy
David Harewood -Capt. Poison
Basil Wallace -Benjamin Kapanay
Jimi Mistry -Nabil
Michael Sheen -Rupert Simmons
Marius Weyers -Rudolf Van De Kaap
Stephen Collins -Ambassador Walker
Ntare Mwine -M'Ed
Jermaine Ankrah -Camera Men
Gaurav Chopra Indian Journalist/Camera Man

The Trailer:


Film Locations were:
Cape Town, South Africa

Goba, Mozambique
KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
London, England, UK
Maputo, Mozambique
Mozambique
Port Edward, South Africa
South Africa
Victoria and Albert Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa

Footnote:
When the plot of the film became public, De Beers, the South African diamond mining and trading company, maintained that the trade in conflict diamonds had been reduced from 4% to 1% of total purchases by the Kimberley Process. De Beers denied a suggestion that the company had pushed for the film to contain a disclaimer to the effect that the events it portrayed were fictional and outdated.

More recently, the New York Post reported that Warner Bros. Pictures had promised that 27 child and teenage film extras who were amputees would receive prosthetics once the film shoot was done. Several months after the completion of filming, however, the prosthetics had not been supplied, and the studio reportedly told the amputees they had to wait until the December 2006 release of the film to maximize a public relations boost. In the meantime, the private charity Eastern Cape assisted in supplying prosthetics to the amputees.
These allegations were countered by an article in L.A. Weekly, which stated that Warner Bros. had not promised the prosthetics, but that the cast and crew raised between $200,000 and $400,000 to begin a "Blood Diamond Fund," which was then matched by Warner Bros. and "administered by a Maputo-based international accountancy firm under the supervision of Laws and João Ribeiro, the production managers in Mozambique.
This information really bothered me, and it was eventually handled but it really makes you think about how the film industry makes promises and may not take care of what they promise.