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81-493: Blood Diamond is a 2006 American political war thriller film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick and starring Leonardo DiCaprio , Jennifer Connelly , and Djimon Hounsou . The title refers to blood diamonds , which are diamonds mined in war zones and sold to finance conflicts, and thereby profit warlords and diamond companies around the world. Set during the Sierra Leone Civil War of 1991–2002,

162-495: A rite of passage to maturity. Child soldiers who survive armed conflict frequently develop psychiatric illness, poor literacy and numeracy , and behavioral problems such as heightened aggression , which together lead to an increased risk of unemployment and poverty in adulthood. Research in the United Kingdom has found that the enlistment and training of adolescent children, even when they are not sent to war,

243-546: A cheap and accessible resource for military organisations. In a 2004 study of children in military organisations around the world, Rachel Brett and Irma Specht pointed to a complex of factors that incentivise children to join military organisations, particularly: The following testimony from a child recruited by the Cambodian armed forces in the 1990s is typical of many children's motivations for joining up: I joined because my parents lacked food and I had no school ... I

324-476: A critic of the ' society of the spectacle ', for whom "separation is the alpha and omega of the spectacle," was therefore also violently opposed to cinema, even though he would make several films portraying his ideas. In order to differentiate between the narrow and broad notions of 'political cinema', film scholar Ewa Mazierska suggested to divide all such films into the categories of conformist or oppositional and marked or unmarked: From this point of view, it

405-576: A direct part in hostilities and to cease recruitment below the age of 16. As most states have now opted into OPAC, the global trend has been towards reserving military recruitment to adulthood, known as the Straight-18 standard. Nonetheless, as of 2018 , children aged under 18 were still being recruited and trained for military purposes in 46 countries. Most of these states recruit from age 17, fewer than 20 recruit from age 16, and an unknown, smaller number, recruit younger children. As of 2022 ,

486-546: A framework of restorative justice and social rehabilitation, consistent with international law which offers children special protection through numerous agreements and principles. This principle was reflected in the Court's statute, which did not rule out prosecution but emphasised the need to rehabilitate and reintegrate former child soldiers. David Crane , the first Chief Prosecutor of the Sierra Leone tribunal, interpreted

567-467: A high risk of poverty and lasting unemployment in adulthood. Further harm is caused when armed forces and groups detain child recruits. Children are often detained without sufficient food, medical care, or under other inhumane conditions, and some experience physical and sexual torture. Some are captured with their families, or detained due to one of their family members' activity. Lawyers and relatives are frequently banned from any court hearing. While

648-462: A high-stress environment, particularly those from a background of childhood adversity. It finds in particular that the prolonged stressors of military training are likely to aggravate pre-existing mental health problems and hamper healthy neurological development. Military settings are characterized by elevated rates of bullying , particularly by instructors. In the UK between 2014 and 2020, for example,

729-488: A job to do because I don't have any skills. I don't know what I'll do ... Some leaders of armed groups have claimed that children, despite their underdevelopment, bring their own qualities as combatants to a fighting unit, often being remarkably fearless, agile and hardy. The global proliferation of light automatic weapons, which children can easily handle, has also made the use of children as direct combatants more viable. Child soldiers who survive armed conflict face

810-558: A major growth spurt this year". She called the film as a whole "an unusually smart, engaged popcorn flick". James Berardinelli of the ReelViews gave the film three out of four stars, saying "It's a solid performance from Leonardo DiCaprio, who has grown into this sort of gritty role and is more believable after having been seen dancing on the dark side in The Departed ." Dana Stevens of Slate magazine wrote, " Blood Diamond

891-478: A man on film". Peter Rainer of The Christian Science Monitor also gave the film a positive review, and like Puig, praised DiCaprio's acting: "DiCaprio is remarkable—his work is almost on par with his performance this year in The Departed ." William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer gave the film a positive review, saying "Zwick's narrative skills keep us hooked on the story, and

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972-718: A markedly elevated risk of debilitating psychiatric illness, poor literacy and numeracy, and behavioural problems. Research in Palestine and Uganda, for example, has found that more than half of former child soldiers showed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and nearly nine in ten in Uganda screened positive for depressed mood . Researchers in Palestine also found that children exposed to high levels of violence in armed conflict were substantially more likely than other children to exhibit aggression and anti-social behaviour . The combined impact of these effects typically includes

1053-511: A masterpiece due to its impact on the development of cinema. The basic structure consists of a description of an idealized lost idyll ("the Old South"), the disruption of this order during reconstruction post- Civil War , and the restoration of white supremacy , which is shown a legitimate goal that unites the former enemies. In the end, the leader of the KKK secures his private happiness too and

1134-586: A means to disseminate American values. In Germany the Universum Film AG , better known as UFA, was founded to counter the perceived dominance of American propaganda. During the Weimar Republic many films about Frederick II of Prussia had a conservative nationalistic agenda, as Siegfried Kracauer and other film critics noted. Communists like Willi Münzenberg saw the Russian cinema as

1215-512: A model of political cinema. Soviet films by Sergei Eisenstein , Dziga Vertov and others combined a partisan view of the bolshevist regime with artistic innovation which also appealed to western audiences. Leni Riefenstahl has never been able or willing to face her responsibility as a chief propagandist for National-Socialism , i.e., Nazism. Almost unlimited resources and her undeniable talent led to results, which, despite their hideous aims, still fascinate some aficionados of film. While there

1296-432: A nomination for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama (also nominated that year in the same category for The Departed ). In addition, DiCaprio and Hounsou were nominated for Outstanding Male Actor in a Leading Role and Outstanding Male Actor in a Supporting Role at the 13th Screen Actors Guild Awards . In 1999, Sierra Leone is ravaged by civil war . The Revolutionary United Front terrorizes

1377-572: A political function. The authorities in Nazi Germany , for instance, knew this very well and organized a large production of deliberately escapist films. In other 'entertainment' films, such as westerns , the ideological bias is evident in the distortion of historical reality. A "classical" western would rarely portray black cowboys , although there were a great many of them in the American frontier . Hollywood cinema, which can be understood as

1458-416: A recruit in the air and literally throws him into the wall. A corporal smacks me full-force around the head—I've got my helmet on but he hits me so hard that I'm knocked right over, I mean this man's about 40 and I'm maybe 17 by then. A bit later, we're crawling through mud and a corporal grabs me and drags me along the ground, half-way across a field. When he lets go I'm in that much pain that I'm whimpering on

1539-525: A rehabilitation program. In her letter she said that Khadr represented the "classic child soldier narrative: recruited by unscrupulous groups to undertake actions at the bidding of adults to fight battles they barely understand". Children's rights advocates were left frustrated after the final text of the convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) did not prohibit the military recruitment of all children under

1620-438: A stickler for immersing [himself] in research". He wrote the film with the assumption that it would offend the diamond industry, particularly De Beers , and so made sure to portray the industry truthfully, aware that he could potentially be sued by De Beers and other powerful mining corporations. Paula Weinstein was impressed by Leavitt's Blood Diamond draft, but hired writers Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz to rewrite it. By

1701-581: A van de Kaap representative; he exchanges the pink diamond for a large sum of money and being reunited with his entire family. Maddy takes photographs of the deal to publish in her article on the diamond trade, exposing van de Kaap's criminal actions. Vandy appears as a guest speaker at a conference on " blood diamonds " in Kimberley , and is met with a standing ovation. Charles Leavitt was hired by Warner Bros. in February 2004 to rewrite an early draft of

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1782-433: A weighted average score of 64 out of 100, based on 39 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of A− on a scale from A to F. Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film a positive review, calling Blood Diamond "a gem in a season with lots of worthy movies". Puig also praised DiCaprio's acting, calling it "the first time the boyish actor has truly seemed like

1863-416: Is a by-the-numbers message picture, to be sure... But the director, Edward Zwick, is craftsman enough that the pace never slackens, the chase scenes thrill, and the battle scenes sicken. And if it makes viewers think twice about buying their sweethearts that hard-won hunk of ice for Christmas, so much the better." Ty Burr of The Boston Globe , after giving the film a positive review, stated: "As an entry in

1944-708: Is approved by the United Nations General Assembly. It does not only refer to a child who is taking or has taken a direct part in hostilities. The Additional Protocols to the 1949 Geneva Conventions (1977, Art. 77.2), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (2002) all forbid state armed forces and non-state armed groups from using children under

2025-514: Is much controversy around her work, it is generally accepted that Riefenstahl's main commitment was to filmmaking, rather than to the Nazi Party . Proof of this might be seen by the portrayal of Jesse Owens ' victory in her film about the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, Olympia (1938), and in her later work, mostly on her photographic expeditions to Africa. The same is certainly not true of

2106-424: Is often accompanied by a higher risk of suicide , stress-related mental disorders , alcohol abuse , and violent behavior. Since the 1960s, a number of treaties have successfully reduced the recruitment and use of children worldwide. Nonetheless, around a quarter of armed forces worldwide, particularly those of third-world nations , still train adolescent children for military service, while elsewhere,

2187-488: Is the oppositional and marked political films that the most viewers regard as 'political', as discussions about politics in film typically single out these two categories. Before World War I French cinema had a big share of the world market. Hollywood used the collapse of the French production to establish its hegemony . Ever since it has dominated world film production not only economically but has transformed cinema into

2268-744: Is the soundtrack to the film of the same name, released on December 19, 2006, by Varèse Sarabande . It was composed by James Newton Howard and won the Soundtrack of the Year award at the 2008 Classic Brit Awards . Blood Diamond was released on DVD in region 1 format on March 20, 2007. Both a single-disc and a two-disc version were released. The film has sold an estimated 3.6 million DVD units and has grossed $ 62.7 million in sales. Political film Political cinema exists in different forms, such as documentaries , short films , feature films , experimental films , and even animated cartoons . In

2349-558: The San Francisco Chronicle gave the film a negative review, arguing that "director Edward Zwick tried to make a great movie, but somewhere in the process he forgot to make a good one". Blood Diamond opened on December 8, 2006, in the United States and Canada in 1,910 theaters. The film ranked at #5 on its opening weekend, accumulating $ 8,648,324, with a per-theater average of $ 4,527. The film's five-day gross

2430-497: The Convention on the Rights of the Child as people under the age of 18) have been recruited for participation in military operations and campaigns throughout history and in many cultures. Children are targeted for their susceptibility to influence, which renders them easier to recruit and control. While some are recruited by force, others choose to join up, often to escape poverty or because they expect military life to offer

2511-597: The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme , which sought to certify the origin of rough diamonds in order to curb the trade in conflict diamonds; the certification scheme has since been mostly abandoned as ineffective. The film received positive reviews, with praise directed toward the performances of DiCaprio and Hounsou. The film grossed $ 171 million worldwide and received five Oscar nominations, including Best Actor for DiCaprio and Best Supporting Actor for Hounsou. DiCaprio received

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2592-408: The apartheid -era South African Defence Force (whom Archer also served under in the 32 Battalion ), who now commands a private military company . Archer wants the diamond so he can sell it to van de Kaap and retire, but Coetzee wants it as compensation for Archer's botched smuggling mission. Archer returns to Sierra Leone, locates Vandy, and offers to help him find his family if he will help recover

2673-615: The 21st century seems to focus on controversial topics such as globalization , AIDS , and other health-care concerns, issues pertaining to the environment , such as world energy resources and consumption and climate change , and other complex matters pertaining to discrimination , capitalism , terrorism , war , peace , religious and related forms of intolerance , and civil and political rights , as well as other human rights . The form has always been an important concern for political filmmakers. While some, like pioneering Lionel Rogosin , argued that radical films, in order to liberate

2754-630: The Charter. None of the above treaties either explicitly forbids the indirect participation of children in "hostilities", or from contributing to a military operation in a stand-off position (i.e. away from hostilities). OPAC requires governments to demobilise children within their jurisdiction who have been recruited or used in hostilities and to provide assistance for their physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration. Under war, civil unrest, armed conflict and other emergency situations, children and youths are also offered protection under

2835-890: The First and Second World Wars. Children continued to be used throughout the 20th and early 21st century on every continent, with concentrations in parts of Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. Only since the turn of the millennium have international efforts begun to limit and reduce the military use of children. The adoption in 2000 of the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC) committed states who ratified it to "take all feasible measures" to ensure that no child takes

2916-470: The French avant-garde of the 1920s. Even in his more conventional films Luis Buñuel stuck to the spirit of outright revolt of L'Âge d'or. The bourgeoisie had to be expropriated and all its values destroyed, the surrealists believed. This spirit of revolt is also present in all films of Jean Vigo . Griffith's highly controversial film, which glorifies the Ku Klux Klan , is widely considered to be

2997-514: The Paris Principles state that children who participate in armed conflict should be regarded first as victims, even if they may also be perpetrators: ... [those] who are accused of crimes under international law allegedly committed while they were associated with armed forces or armed groups should be considered primarily as victims of offenses against international law; not only as perpetrators. They must be treated by international law in

3078-430: The Rights of the Child defines a child as any person under the age of 18. The Paris Principles define a child associated with an armed force or group as: ...any person below 18 years of age who is or who has been recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to children, boys and girls, used as fighters, cooks, porters, messengers, spies or for sexual purposes. The document

3159-876: The UN identified 12 countries where children were widely used by such groups: Colombia in South America; Central African Republic , Democratic Republic of the Congo , Mali , Somalia , South Sudan , and Sudan in Africa; Lebanon and Palestine in the Middle East; Syria and Yemen in Western Asia; Afghanistan in Central Asia; and Myanmar in South East Asia. Not all armed groups use children and approximately 60 have entered agreements to reduce or end

3240-510: The US and the UK, higher risk of alcohol misuse and higher risk of violent behaviour, relative to recruits' pre-military experience. Military academics in the US have characterized military training as "intense indoctrination" in conditions of sustained stress, the primary purpose of which is to establish the unconditional and immediate obedience of recruits. The research literature has found that adolescents are more vulnerable than adults to

3321-744: The United Nations Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict . To accommodate the proper disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of former members of armed groups, the United Nations started the Integrated DDR Standards in 2006. Opinion is currently divided over whether children should be prosecuted for war crimes. International law does not prohibit

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3402-425: The United Nations (UN) verified that nine state armed forces were using children in hostilities: Central African Republic , Democratic Republic of the Congo , Mali , Somalia , and South Sudan in Africa; Palestine, Syria and Yemen in Western Asia; Afghanistan in Central Asia; and Myanmar in South East Asia. The United Nations (UN) Committee on the Rights of the Child and others have called for an end to

3483-505: The advocacy-entertainment genre, in which glamorous movie stars bring our attention to the plight of the less fortunate, Blood Diamond is superior to 2003's ridiculous Beyond Borders while looking strident and obvious next to last year's The Constant Gardener . Pete Vonder Haar of the Film Threat gave the film a mixed review, saying, "It's a reasonably entertaining actioner, and Zwick doesn't shy away from depicting violence or

3564-605: The age of 15 directly in armed conflict (technically "hostilities"). This is now recognised as a war crime. Most states with armed forces are also bound by the higher standards of the widely ratified Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC) (2000) and the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999), which forbid the compulsory recruitment of those under the age of 18. OPAC also requires governments that still recruit children (from age 16) to "take all feasible measures to ensure that persons below

3645-514: The age of 18 do not take a direct part in hostilities". In addition, OPAC forbids non-state armed groups from recruiting children under any circumstances, although the legal force of this is uncertain. The highest standard in the world is set by the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child , which forbids state armed forces from recruiting children under the age of 18 under any circumstances. Most African states have ratified

3726-505: The age of 18, and they began to call for a new treaty to achieve this goal. As a consequence the newly formed Committee on the Rights of the Child made two recommendations: first, to request a major UN study into the impact of armed conflict on children; and second, to establish a working group of the UN Commission on Human Rights to negotiate a supplementary protocol to the convention. Both proposals were accepted. Responding to

3807-416: The alleged idyll is restored. Military use of children Children in the military , including state armed forces , non-state armed groups , and other military organizations, may be trained for combat, assigned to support roles, such as cooks, porters/couriers, or messengers, or used for tactical advantage such as for human shields , or for political advantage in propaganda. Children (defined by

3888-505: The army recorded 62 formal complaints of violence committed by staff against recruits at the military training centre for 16- and 17-year-old trainee soldiers, the Army Foundation College . Joe Turton, who joined up aged 17 in 2014, recalls bullying by staff throughout his training. For example: The corporals come into the hangar where we sleep and they're wild-eyed, screaming, shoving people out. A massive sergeant lifts

3969-446: The child soldier population. Of the verified cases presented in the 2023 UN Secretary General report, girls make 12.3% of all child soldiers recruited or used by armed groups. Despite children's physical and psychological underdevelopment relative to adults, there are many reasons why state and non-state military organisations seek them out, and why children themselves are often drawn to join of their own volition. Relative to adults,

4050-495: The committee on the Rights of the Child, the UN General Assembly acknowledged "the grievous deterioration in the situation of children in many parts of the world as a result of armed conflicts" and commissioned the human rights expert Graça Machel to conduct a major fact-finding study. Her report, Impact of Armed Conflict on Children (1996), was particularly concerned with the military use of younger children, which

4131-499: The countryside and enslaves many locals to harvest diamonds , which fund their increasingly successful war effort. Solomon Vandy, a Mende fisherman from Shenge , is separated from his family and assigned to a workforce overseen by Captain Poison, a ruthless warlord. While mining a river , Vandy discovers an enormous pink diamond. Captain Poison tries to take the stone, but the area is suddenly raided by government troops. Vandy buries

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4212-485: The diamond. The RUF conquers Freetown , while Vandy's son Dia is captured to serve as a child soldier under a liberated Captain Poison. Archer and Vandy narrowly escape to Lungi , where they plan to reach Kono with the help of an American journalist, Maddy Bowen, in exchange for Archer providing evidence of the illicit diamond trade. Maddy helps Vandy locate his remaining family at a refugee camp in Guinea . Eventually,

4293-459: The dominant industry of cinema, was often accused of misrepresenting black, female, gay, and working-class people. More fundamentally, not only are the contents of individual films political, but the institution of cinema itself can also be taken as political as well. A huge number of people congregate, not to act together or to talk to each other, but to sit silently, after having paid for it, to be spectators separated from each other. Guy Debord ,

4374-509: The film a mixed review, suggesting that "De Beers can relax; the only indignation stirred up by Blood Diamond won't be among those who worry about where their jewelry came from, but with audiences incensed by facile politics and bad storytelling". Scott Tobias of The A.V. Club gave the film a C grade: "Much like Zwick's Glory and The Last Samurai , Blood Diamond strives to be an important film while stopping well short of being genuinely provocative and artistically chancy." Mick LaSalle of

4455-453: The film depicts a country torn apart by the struggle between government loyalists and insurgent forces. It also portrays many of the atrocities of that war, including the rebels' amputation of civilians' hands to discourage them from voting in upcoming elections. The film's ending, in which a conference is held concerning blood diamonds, refers to a historic meeting that took place in Kimberley , South Africa , in 2000. It led to development of

4536-424: The film exceeded his expectations: "Given that the movie doesn't have a single narrative surprise—you always know where it's going and why, commercially speaking, it's going there—it's amazing how good Blood Diamond is. I guess that's the surprise." Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post also praised DiCaprio's acting in both Blood Diamond and The Departed (released the same year), saying that he "has undergone

4617-440: The film, then titled Okavango . The story had been stuck in development hell at the studio for years before producers Paula Weinstein and Gillian Gorfil finally decided on the story of an African farmer caught up in the conflict between an American smuggler and the local diamond-mining organization. Leavitt researched the diamond industry at great length before he began writing the screenplay , explaining that he has "always been

4698-469: The first-rate production values and imaginative use of locations (it was shot in Mozambique ) give the film an enthralling scope and epic sweep." Damon Wise of Empire magazine gave the film four out of five stars, saying "Great performances, provocative ideas and gripping action scenes fall prey to Hollywood logic and pat storytelling in the final hour." David Edelstein of New York magazine found

4779-495: The ground. When the other corporal, the one who hit me, sees me crying on the ground, he just points at me and laughs. Elevated rates of sexual harassment are characteristic of military settings, including the training environment. Between 2015 and 2020, for example, girls aged 16 or 17 in the British armed forces were twice as likely as their same-age civilian peers to report rape or other sexual assault. The Convention on

4860-532: The horrors of war, but as a social statement it falls a little short. And emeralds are prettier anyway." Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle also gave the film a mixed review: "While the film never quite reaches the emotional peaks it so obviously seeks to scale, Zwick's film is still potent enough to save you three months salary." Nathan Lee of the Village Voice , like Vonder Haar and Savlov, also gave

4941-443: The imagination of the spectator, have to break not only with the content but also with the form of Dominant cinema, the falsely reassuring clichés and stereotypes of conventional narrative film making, other directors such as Francesco Rosi , Costa Gavras , Ken Loach , Oliver Stone , Spike Lee or Lina Wertmüller preferred to work within mainstream cinema to reach a wider audience. The subversive tradition dates back at least to

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5022-564: The laws of war, attempted murder in violation of the laws of war, conspiracy, two counts of providing material support for terrorism , and spying. The plea was offered as part of a plea bargain , which would see Khadr deported to Canada after one year of imprisonment to serve seven further years there. Omar Khadr remained in Guantanamo Bay and the Canadian government faced international criticism for delaying his repatriation. Khadr

5103-634: The loss of fundamental rights. Research in the same three countries finds that recruiters disproportionately target children from poorer backgrounds. In the UK, for example, the army finds it easier to attract child recruits from age 16 than adults from age 18, particularly those from poorer backgrounds. Once recruited, children are easier than adults to indoctrinate and control, and are more motivated than adults to fight for non-monetary incentives such as religion, honour, prestige, revenge, and duty. In many countries growing populations of young people relative to older generations have made children

5184-600: The narrow sense of the term, political cinema refers to films that do not hide their political stance. In this sense, they differ from other films not because they are political, but because of the way in which their politics is presented. As such, a film does not necessarily have to be pure propaganda to be considered 'political cinema'. The broader meaning of 'political cinema' is argued to be that "all films are political;" even films that are ostensibly 'apolitical' and escapist , merely promising 'entertainment' as an escape from everyday life, can be understood as fulfilling

5265-454: The neurological underdevelopment of children, including adolescent children, renders them more susceptible to recruitment and also more likely to make consequential decisions without due regard to the risks. With these susceptibilities in mind, military marketing to adolescents has been criticised in Germany, the UK, and the US for glamorizing military life while omitting the risks and

5346-835: The practice since 1999. For example, by 2017, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the Philippines had released nearly 2,000 children from its ranks, and in 2016, the FARC-EP guerrilla movement in Colombia agreed to stop recruiting children. Other countries have seen the reverse trend, particularly Afghanistan and Syria , where Islamist militants and groups opposing them have intensified their recruitment, training, and use of children. In 2003, one estimate calculated that child soldiers participated in about three-quarters of ongoing conflicts. In

5427-680: The prosecution of children who commit war crimes, but Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child limits the punishment that a child can receive: "Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offenses committed by persons below eighteen years of age." In the wake of the Sierra Leonean Civil War , the UN mandated the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) to try former combatants aged 15 and older for breaches of humanitarian law , including war crimes. However,

5508-466: The recruitment of children by state armed forces, arguing that military training , the military environment, and a binding contract of service are not compatible with children's rights and jeopardize healthy development. These include non-state armed paramilitary organisations such as militias , insurgents , terrorist organizations , guerrilla movements , armed liberation movements , and other types of quasi-military organisation. As of 2022 ,

5589-588: The same year, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) estimated that most of these children were aged over 15, although some were younger. Due to the widespread military use of children in areas where armed conflict and insecurity prevent access by UN officials and other observers, it is difficult to estimate how many children are affected. It is estimated that girl soldiers make between 10% and 30%, 6 and 50%, or over 40% of

5670-579: The site's coordinates to Coetzee, who directs a combined air and ground assault on the camp. Vandy finds Captain Poison and beats him to death with a shovel as the mercenaries overwhelm the RUF defenders. Coetzee then forces Vandy to produce the diamond, but is killed by Archer, who realizes Coetzee would eventually kill them both. Dia briefly holds the pair at gunpoint, but Vandy confronts him again and renews their familial bond. Pursued by vengeful mercenaries, Archer discloses he has been mortally wounded and entrusts

5751-628: The statute in favour of prosecuting those who had recruited children, rather than the children themselves, no matter how heinous the crimes they had committed. In the US, prosecutors charged Omar Khadr , a Canadian, for offences they alleged he committed in Afghanistan while under the age of 16 and fighting for the Taliban against US forces . These crimes carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment under US law. In 2010, while under torture and duress, Khadr pleaded guilty to murder in violation of

5832-555: The stone before being captured. Vandy and Poison are incarcerated in Freetown along with Danny Archer, a white Rhodesian gunrunner and Border War veteran jailed for trying to smuggle diamonds into Liberia . The diamonds were intended for Rudolph van de Kaap, a corrupt South African mining executive. Hearing of the pink diamond in prison, Archer arranges for himself and Vandy to be freed. He travels to Cape Town to meet his employer: Colonel Coetzee, an Afrikaner formerly with

5913-452: The stone to Vandy, telling him to take it for his family. Vandy and his son rendezvous with Archer's pilot, who flies them to safety while Archer makes a final phone call to Maddy; they share final farewells as he asks her to assist Vandy, and gives her permission to finish her article. Archer finally takes in the beautiful African landscape before dying. Vandy arrives in London and meets with

5994-602: The time he had completed the script, Zwick had become so interested in the story that he agreed to direct the film as well. Filming took place on-location in South Africa ( Cape Town , Port Edward ), Mozambique ( Maputo , Goba ), and London, England . On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 63% based on reviews from 219 critics, with an average score of 6.30/10. The site's consensus states " Blood Diamond overcomes poor storytelling with its biting commentary and fine performances." On Metacritic it has

6075-465: The trio arrive in Kono after a harrowing journey, where Coetzee and his private army — contracted by the Sierra Leone government — prepares to repulse the rebel offensive. While Maddy gets out with her story, the two men set out for Captain Poison's encampment. Dia, stationed with the RUF garrison there, is confronted by Vandy, but having been brainwashed he refuses to acknowledge his father. Archer radios

6156-496: The use of children in armed conflict and insurgencies has increased in recent years. History is filled with children who have been trained and used for fighting, assigned to support roles such as porters or messengers, used as sex slaves , or recruited for tactical advantage as human shields or for political advantage in propaganda. In 1813 and 1814, for example, Napoleon conscripted many young French teenagers for his armies. Thousands of children participated on all sides of

6237-428: The use of children in armed conflict has attracted most attention, other research has found that military settings present several serious risks before child recruits are deployed to war zones, particularly during training. Research from several countries finds that military enlistment, even before recruits are sent to war, is accompanied by a higher risk of attempted suicide in the US, higher risk of mental disorders in

6318-530: The violent anti-Semitic films of Fritz Hippler . Other Nazi political films made propaganda for so-called euthanasia . Especially in the last decades of the 20th century, many filmmakers considered focusing on remembrance of and reflection upon major collective crimes such as the Holocaust , slavery and disasters such as the Chernobyl disaster to be their political and moral duty. Political cinema of

6399-495: Was $ 10,383,962. The film dropped down to #7 on its second weekend, accumulating $ 6,517,471 in a 24.6% drop from its first weekend, and per-theater average of $ 3,412. By its third weekend it dropped even more to #12 and made $ 3,126,379, with its per-theater average being $ 1,628. Blood Diamond went on to gross $ 57,377,916 in the United States and Canada and $ 114,029,263 overseas. In total, the film has grossed $ 171,407,179 worldwide. Blood Diamond: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

6480-768: Was eventually transferred to the Canadian prison system in September 2012 and was freed on bail by a judge in Alberta in May 2015. As of 2016 , Khadr was appealing his US conviction as a war criminal. Before sentencing the Special Representative to the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict wrote to the US military commission at Guantanamo appealing unsuccessfully for Khadr's release into

6561-422: Was worried about mines but what can we do—it's an order [to go to the front line ]. Once somebody stepped on a mine in front of me—he was wounded and died ... I was with the radio at the time, about 60 metres away. I was sitting in my hammock and saw him die ... I see young children in every unit ... I'm sure I'll be a soldier for at least a couple of more years. If I stop being a soldier, I won't have

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