"SC-S28/W2-Movie Highlights|Voices unheard(Blood Diamond)

I am happy to participate in this week's contest of Steemit engagement for season 28, organized by @ruthjoe, so that we can learn a lot of information from the movie we watch.

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Watch a film that focuses on marginalized or underrepresented communities.
Example films: Moonlight, The Farewell, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Sound of Metal

Blood Diamond is one of the movies that reigned in late 2006, where a fisherman named Solomon Vandy dreams that his young son, Dia, will become a successful doctor. However, this dream did not come true when rebels destroyed his village and kidnapped him to work with them in the diamond mine.

In the process of searching for valuable items, Solomon alone found a huge pink diamond and hid it where no one would see it. Solomon was seen by the commandant of the rebels, but the rebels were attacked by the government army. Although he had already hidden the diamond, he was arrested by the government troops.

Solomon Vandy and Captain Poison (the rebel commandant) met Danny Archer in jail. When Danny Archer heard about the huge pink diamond, he promised Solomon to help him find his family. In exchange for his missing family, he promised to give him the diamond. While in the cell, Danny arranged for how Vandy and he could be freed.

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The idealism of American journalist Maddy Bowen helps them to locate his family in a refugee camp. At that camp, he was informed that his son was not present and that he was with rebel. Vandy formed a partnership with Solomon, who tried as much as possible to find his son in the rebel camp. Archer's life changed positively when he found the diamond.

What new perspective or culture did this movie introduce you to?

The movie Blood Diamond reveals how the West uses violence to get what they want in terms of the high demand for diamonds in a place like Sierra Leone. Africans, as a group, have a strong bond for family, which shows the way Vandy puts in more effort to ensure he unites with his family.

The movie gives us more insight into how the colonial masters continue to rule Africa through the exploitation of our natural resources and conflict, and in that case, it shows how both the West and Africans are involved in this process.

This movie is deeply rooted in the African way of life by assisting one another in terms of living a good life as well as seeing ourselves as a strong family in order to create mutual relationships. It also gives us a better understanding that Africa has a lot of human resources and we must unite so that the West cannot take it from us.

Were there any stereotypes challenged or broken in the film?

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The movie show how the Western stereotype the people of Africa, in the eyes of viewers, is that they are violent, with Sierra Leone being viewed as a death trap. Due to racism, they perceive Black people as slaves, whom they can exploit in Sierra Leone to work for them in order to achieve what they need to develop their country.

This stereotype is not a new thing among the Western world. Through the film, I realized that violence is intentionally created, leading to social unrest in that region. In that movie, they use neocolonial violence with mercenaries, especially child soldiers, who are trained and brainwashed to join the fight, cause violence, and kill people in the community.

Which character's journey did you relate to the most?

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Solomon Vandy is the main character, and I love the role he plays because it shows the viewers that family is important and that they are everything. He searches for them with the hope that he will succeed in finding them. Solomon Vandy finds his wife and daughter, but he does not relent; he is also looking for his son.

He makes sure that he gets his son back from the rebels through the powerful words he uses to convince him because fear has been instilled in the child's mind to fear their leaders. Solomon Vandy plays an active role in the movie, where the viewers see him as the brave man who conquers his enemy.

What’s one message from the film that stuck with you?

The message I get from the movie is that consumers should be aware of where the products they buy come from because consumer choices sometimes allow exploitation, which in one way or another affects other people's way of life.

The only way to prevent this exploitation in the future is to stop buying from these illegal sources. This film makes us aware that through the illegal mining of diamonds, rebels generate money in that process in order to continue escalating conflict in the region where communities will run for their dear lives.