The movie "Blood Diamond" was released in 2006 and featured Leonardo Di Caprio as an arms smuggler whose main goal is to obtain a seemingly priceless diamond from a villager during the civil war in Sierra Leone. The film, although it has been called mild in comparison to reality, depicts the brutality that inhabitants of diamond villages were subjected to. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, and won numerous other awards. The film marker is trying to raise awareness of the illicit conflict diamond trade and reinforcing the Kimberley process1 and showing how it will stem the flow of conflict diamonds. This is successful mainly due to the public outburst after the movie. The great impact of the movie has caused diamond …show more content…
He also is trying to show us that the people at Van De Kaap are not truly trying to solve the problem. Instead they are aggravating the situation. The filmmaker aims to discourage racism and show that both blacks and whites can work together to solve various problems. In the movie, Danny Archer had been forced to work together with Solomon Vandy, but they grew in terms of mutual understanding even though they had different purposes for finding the diamond (Danny- profit, Solomon- to find family). From our research, cooperation among Africans is needed to effectively solve the flow of conflict diamonds. An African Union was set up to speak on behalf of the African nations. Discouraging racism will always be important in Singapore not only because the local population consists of many different races, but also because of the apparent pro-Bumiputra policies which have drawn flak from some racial communities in Malaysia. Besides, the filmmaker wants to show how an ineffective government can lead to suffering of its citizens. In the movie, Free Town4 fell into the hands of the RUF where many were killed and buildings were razed, due to the failure of the government to effectively enforce security in the region. This is supported by one of the arguments from research stating that strong governments are needed to effectively stem the flow of conflict diamonds out of Sierra Leone into Liberia. Relating to Singapore, the
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier and the recent 2006 film Blood Diamond both depict how it was living in Sierra Leone, Africa during the Civil War in the ‘90’s. While A Long Way Gone focuses on child soldiers and what they had to live and go through for many years, Blood Diamond focuses mainly on how the country is torn apart by the struggle between government soldiers and rebel forces. The film portrays many of the atrocities of that war, including the rebels' amputation of people's hands to stop them from voting in upcoming elections. Both the movie and the book try to tackle major issues by asking the questions: how
The movie Winter in the Blood, was made 38 years after the novel was first published and was not directed by the author, James Welch. This among many reasons may explain some of the noticeable differences between the movie and text. Although the basic plot in the movie stays true to that of the book there was some added “Hollywood magic” to make it more viewable on the big screen. The book, Winter in the Blood portrays the grandmother as grouchy and simple while the movie Winter in the Blood depicts her as the stereotypical wise, gentle, and nurturing Indian grandmother. The movie’s depiction of the grandmother is done to convey a better relationship between her and the narrator which makes viewers feel more connected and sympathetic for
This diamond formation and subsequent mining result from one facet of nature-culture, possibilism. The diamonds were placed there by nature and it was the actions of humans that industrialized them. Comparatively, another effect of nature on the culture is the frequent rains due to the summer monsoon season. These rains wreaked havoc on the geography of Sierra Leone and put a damper on outdoor activities. In the novel, a guard said, “‘Freetown’s hills be steep...sometimes they get all the way to the sea’”
This essay supports the statement “The price of diamonds is too high”. Diamonds have always been presumed to be rare. They have been present in history as a symbol of wealth and luxury as they were so difficult to find. Nowadays diamonds are mined and are found all over the world but they are sold through a cartel. (Epstein 1982) A cartel limits the supply of a product in order to keep prices high and to limit competition. (South African Pocket Oxford Dictionary: 2002) This raises the question of whether diamonds are actually worth their price. This essay focuses on the origins and the basic theory behind the diamond cartel; the early operation of the cartel; De Beers’ strong market campaign; determining De Beers’ current
Blood diamond are “diamonds that originate from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments, and are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments, or in contravention of the decisions of the Security Council”. Blood Diamond is a story about the precious gem acquired through blood and sufferings of common people. How much blood is spilt for each pieces of this luxury, how many tears dried into the very ground it is gathered from. Except from the people that are involved in the whole process of stealing or smuggling a nation’s natural wealth. Sierra Leone, where the storyline takes place, gets nothing. Its people are suffering through extreme poverty, hunger, illiteracy and diseases. Adding insult to injury, there is a fast emerging brutal terrorist group called RUF, destroying the system, collapsing government, killing innocents and taking children as soldiers. Making sure the country never progress and prosper or never grow the backbone to stand on its feet ever to use the valuable diamonds it holds on the ground. For example, when the illegal and unethical blood diamond trade was brought to light, it was ignored by the most potentially influential global players because of economic interest. What resulted was that the situation snowballed over the duration that it has occurred over and when the issue finally came to a head
Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for remembering the people who died while serving in the country's armed forces.[1] The holiday, which is observed every year on the last Monday of May,[2] originated as Decoration Day after the American Civil War in 1868, when the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans founded in Decatur, Illinois, established it as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers.[3] By the 20th century, competing Union and Confederate holiday traditions, celebrated on different days, had merged, and Memorial Day eventually extended to honor all Americans who died while in the military service.[1] It typically marks the start of the summer vacation season, while Labor Day marks its end.
Slavery was abolished in the year of 1865; however, the maltreatment of African-Americans has not. Similarly, the triangular slave trade mentioned in Hartman’s book is no longer existent, but inhumane conditions still exist amongst the African community. These conditions are recurring motifs that hip-hop artist try to bring to mainstream audiences. The blood diamond industry began in the 1990s with the rebel group, Revolutionary United Front (RUF), led by Foday Sankoh, who had claimed they would improve the destitute conditions of the Africans and take better care of them than the African government. However, they later went against these promises and “seized control of diamond-producing regions in the east and south of Sierra Leone” (Fofana,
Imagine being a pirate. You haven’t had a bath for months from being out on the vast sea. You and the crew raid ships carrying rum, tobacco, food, and diamonds. You get into deadly battles with other ships. This is the life of the crewmen sailing on the Bloody Diamond along with their captain, the fiercest female pirate of them all, Syrena.
In Besteman’s ethnographies, South Africa face the challenges of transforming its self after dealing with apartheid. In reality , I had expected more data on the post-war Sierra Leone , only because it has been a decade since the conflict ended. I believe that my frustration stems from me being originated from Sierra Leone. I would love for this country to pick up in terms of macroeconomics and microeconomics. But I now understand how detrimental civil wars are. My study shows one of the few concept discussed in class of African. It represents the most common problem the majority of African countries are facing , which is their corrupt government. The development for majority of African countries would be more of a constant growth if the government systems were firm and
Much of what I discovered in watching this film has helped me see things in a different light. Not just diamonds but every other product imaginable could’ve commenced the same chaos the diamonds caused in Africa. This commotion may not only happen in Africa but also in any other country. Innocent people like Solomon, who just wanted to live their life in a quiet environment, are dragged into the turmoil constructed by the greedy individuals who only see money and power as the most important things in this world. The fact that the rebels cut off the citizens’ arms so that they won’t be able to vote was very disturbing. They recognize the people’s power that’s why they had to prevent the citizens to vote, so that they could stay in power. The citizens have
Not only does this issue involve the politics of the diamond trade and the involvement of outside parties, but it is also a devastatingly serious human rights violation to the civilians of Angola. “There is an average of 52 land mine incidents per month and approximately 1 out of every 356 Angolans is an amputee as a result of these bloody conquests”[4]. It was determined in a United Nations Security Council meeting that “there are clear and major weaknesses in systems for controlling diamond trading, which no single country can address effectively because of the many alternative routes available to illicit diamond traders”[5]. Therefore, in order to combat the civil fighting between UNITA and the MPLA, we must educate ourselves about UNITA’s diamond trade, prohibit the sale of blood diamonds, and achieve a commitment from diamond dealers that their diamonds originate from conflict-free mines.
The ‘Blood Wedding’ was a hand theater performance. Unlike conventional western theater, ‘Blood Wedding’ was a combination of the western style of theater and culture of Latin America. Also ‘Blood wedding’ was a tragedy tried an innovative approach to tragedy storytelling.
Due to these Blood Diamonds, Sierra Leone has faced many social and economic costs. One diamond is capable of causing a civil war. That’s all, a fight over diamond control took many lives. During this civil war, rebels came and committed disgusting crimes including murder,
III.The organization that Colonel Coetzee operates involves the use of military force and monies through European agencies that help crate civil conflict in order to exploit the natural resources of the Sierra Leone. His goal is to provide cheap diamonds found by stakeholders, like Solomon, that wish to use the blood diamond to free his family and to stop the exploitation of his peoples. Danny Archer’s means to an end is to be able to find these diamonds to make the Colonel massive profits off of them. These “blood diamonds” are the result of creating wars that destroy African communities, so that Europeans can live in luxury. Is it Danny that must find these diamonds and find ways to smuggle them out of the region during military conflict, artificially created by men like Colonel Coetzee. Maddy is involved with the American media, as she is trying to find a
We see clearly in the movie how the factors of production is used: land, labour, and entrepreneurship. Land is the resource where diamonds are found, and in Blood Diamond we see how the RUF uses a form of alluvial mining and open pit mining on the land. The men would find the diamonds by digging and shoveling in rocks that are eroded by rivers and streams. The result of this is disastrous to the land because of the enormous amount of soil that is removed to obtain the diamond. Also wasted rocks from the mining can leak harmful substances back into the water. Blood Diamond did an admirable job at depicting the realities of how