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.

Set during the Sierra Leone Civil War of 1991–2002, the film depicts a country torn apart by the struggle between government loyalists and insurgent forces.

The Revolutionary United Front terrorizes 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.

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.

He travels to Cape Town to meet his employer: Colonel Coetzee, an Afrikaner formerly with the apartheid-era South African Defence Force (whom Archer also served under in the 32 Battalion), who now commands a private military company.

Eventually, 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.

Vandy arrives in London and meets with 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.

[5] Paula Weinstein was impressed by Leavitt's Blood Diamond draft, but hired writers Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz to rewrite it.

[6] Filming took place on-location in South Africa (Cape Town, Port Edward), Mozambique (Maputo, Goba), and London, England.

"[12] 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.

"[13] David Edelstein of New York magazine found 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.

[15] 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.

"[17] Ty Burr of The Boston Globe, after giving the film a positive review, stated: "As an entry in 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.

"[20] Nathan Lee of the Village Voice, like Vonder Haar and Savlov, also gave 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".