Synopsis

Set during Sierra Leone's civil war in 1999, Blood Diamond follows fisherman Solomon Vandy after he discovers a rare pink diamond while being forced to work in a rebel mine. Smuggler Danny Archer learns of the stone and offers to help Solomon recover it, but Solomon's urgent search for his family and kidnapped son turns their uneasy partnership into a dangerous journey through war-torn territory.

Factoids & Trivia

• The screenplay began as an earlier project titled "Okavango." Charles Leavitt was hired to rework it, and the script was later revised by Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz.

• Although the story is set in Sierra Leone, filming took place primarily in South Africa and Mozambique, with additional scenes shot in London. Cape Town and Maputo doubled for several locations in the fictionalized wartime setting.

• The closing conference in Kimberley references the real 2000 meeting in Kimberley, South Africa, that helped lead to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme for tracking rough diamonds and limiting the trade in conflict diamonds.

• The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including acting nominations and recognition for film editing, sound editing, and sound mixing.

• The production brought renewed mainstream attention to the term "blood diamond," meaning a diamond mined in a conflict zone and sold to finance armed groups or warlords.

• The diamond company depicted in the film prompted discussion within the industry. De Beers publicly disputed suggestions that it had attempted to influence the film's content and expressed concern that the story could reduce consumer demand for diamonds.