bLoOd DiAmOnD

This was released last year, but it was only today that I watched it - on cable. George and I had plans to watch it the time it was released, but things got so busy [practicum!!] so we didn't..and George dear, sorry I wasn't able to come last June, which resulted to you not watchin "The Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"....bawi next time 'dre.

Anyways, if you didn't watch this movie, you better do. It's a good one.


Set against the backdrop of civil war and chaos in 1990's Sierra Leone, Blood Diamond is the story of Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), an ex-mercenary from Zimbabwe, and Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), a Mende fisherman. Both men are African, but they are as different as they could be, until their fates were joined by a common quest to recover a rare pink diamond that could change both their lives. While in prison for smuggling, Archer learns that Solomon, who was taken from his family and forced to work in the diamond fields, has found and hidden "the stone". With the help of Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly), an American journalist whose idealism is tempered by a deepening connection with Archer, the two men embark on a trek through rebel territory, a journey that could save Solomon's family and give Danny the second chance he thought he would never have.


"The Third World is not a world apart... and the witness you will hear today speaks on its behalf. Let us hear the voice of that world. Let us learn from that voice... and let us ignore it no more. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Solomon Vandy."

What is a BLOOD DIAMOND anyway? A blood diamond (also called a conflict diamond, dirty diamond or war diamond) is a diamond mined in a war zone and sold, usually clandestinely, in order to finance an insurgent, invading army's war efforts or for warlord-like activity.

vocabulary check
CLANDESTINELY (adv): secretly [CLANDESTINE (adj): marked by, or held in secrecy]
INSURGENT (adj): rising in opposition to civil authority or established leadership: rebellious
INSURGENT (n): a person who revolts against civil authority or an established government, especially a rebel not recognized as a belligerent; one who acts contrary to the policies and decisions of one's own political party
BELLIGERENT (adj): waging war, specifically, belonging to or recognized as a state at war and protected by and subject to the laws of war