This movie isn't for the faint of heart: it's bloody. The realistic depictions of sadistic violence, child soldiers, wicked indoctrination methods and impressment, and the blood diamond trade are all disturbing. But it's not too much to jar you out of the plot, it's sad, and exciting, and very
shocking, but doesn't take away from the movie.
Spoiler warning for what's below.
The movie is about Leonardo DiCaprio, a white Rhodesian (Zimbabwe) named Danny Archer who smuggles diamonds into Liberia so they can be safely smuggled out of the country. He smuggles them out, so his boss, and old friend, South African Colonel Coetzee, can smuggle guns into Sierra Leone. On a botched run, his diamonds are confiscated, putting him into debt with the Colonel, played by Arnold Vosloo.
While this is happening, Solomon Vandy's (Djimon Hounsou) village is attacked by rebels who slaughter most, amuptate the limbs of many, and capture a few to work in their diamond mines. While Solomon is working in the diamond fields, he finds a large pink diamond and buries it. Shortly after government forces attack the field and Solomon is captured.
Danny learns of the diamond from the captain of the rebels who was trying to find out the diamond's location from Solomon, who refuses to tell him. Along the way, Danny meets Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly), an American journalist trying to crack the story of the blood diamond trade. She gets out of Freetown before the rebels attak, but Solomon and Danny are trapped there, after Danny makes a deal with the Colonel, to whom he owes diamonds, that he'll get the pink diamond to repay his debt. We also find out the Colonel and Danny have a history, as the Colonel taught Danny much about being a mercenary when he joined the army at the age of 19.
During the attack, Danny finds Solomon and barely convinces Solomon to lead him to the diamond. Solomon's only demand is that he wants his family back. They barely escape the city, which is being ransacked by the rebels, and make their way to an outlying village, where they again meet up with Maddy. The three of them find most of Solomon's family, his wife and his two daughters, but his son was taken by the rebels. The three of them end up lost in the jungle, wherein Maddy gets Danny to open up a bit, just a bit. I originally thought that was a bit implausible, for you are somewhat battered with mixed impressions of Danny's character. He's selfish, that's for sure, usually without morals, and not the type to break down. Eventually they link up with the Colonel, whose mercenary army has been tasked by the government to fight the rebels they sold weapons to (ah, the beauty of the arms industry). Danny forces Maddy to take the evacuation plane, and they say goodbye. No tears, some sardonic wit, but obviously palpable emotion.
Solomao and Danny take off into the jungle alone, one looking for a diamond, one for his son, and both for a different kind of freedom. They find the diamond field, and Solomon's son is inside. Danny calls in an airstrike on the diamond mine from the Colonel, who happily obliges. When the Colonel gets there, he wants his diamond, but Solomon isn't up for relinquishing it yet. Solomon and Danny manage to kill the Colonel and his guards, grab the diamond and make a break for it, as Danny has a plane landing at a nearby airstrip. But Danny is shot in the process. They make a run for it, and make it most of the way up a treacherous cliff, but Danny can go no further. He takes the card that Maddy gave him before she left, and using the satelite phone he stole from the Colonel earlier he calls her and tells her to meet up with Solomon (who Danny sent to the plane with his son and the diamond). They have an emotional goodbye and Danny dies.
It seems like that would be the end, but this movie is pretty good about tying up it's loose ends. Maddy, before she left, was given a list of bank accounts, names, and places where blood diamonds are "laundered" into legal diamonds, so she can write her story. Using Solomon as a decoy, the CEO of a major diamond business is caught buying the pink diamond off him, in return for a large briefcase of money and the safe return of his family (which they somehow arranged). In the end, Solomon gets his family back, and secures their safety for life. Maddy gets her story, finally finds the right man for her, but he dies. And at the end we get a little moral of the story about child soldiers and blood diamonds.
End spoilers
As disturbing as parts of the movie are, I have to say I've never been so sad to see a happy ending in my life. I can't say enough about the fantastic acting from the two stars, Leonardo and Djimon, to say nothing of the fantastic acting from the movie's many child actors. The movie felt undeniably REAL. Go see this movie, not to be taught any sort of lesson about Africa or poverty, but because it's a great story, with great acting, and those are the two best reasons to go see a movie. If you learn anything, consider it a bonus, but this movie is by no means mainly a PSA.
