education before entertainment

Rating: 10/10 (13 January 2007)

Okay so it's a Hollywood movie and so has to be entertaining. But i'm a great believer in the notion that a movie can educate. The best movies, for me, are the ones that make us think and ponder the bigger picture. I feel that many people in the west have no idea about conflict diamonds and the harrowing truth behind a percentage of the diamond trade. The film points out that we must determine where a diamond comes from before buying it and so I don't buy the stuff about the movie causing problems for the diamond industry.
I take my hat off to those involved with making films like this (also Lord of War, The Constant Gardner and Hotel Rwanda) as the enlighten us on the way the west can exploit Africa. Sure, there are other places in the world that deserve our sympathy and attention, but the magnitude and scale of the atrocities that have faced/face Africa should not go untold. We don't pay attention to the stories on the news and so at least we cant ignore it for long thanks to such movies. The child soldier stuff is particularly horrible and it really is time people did more to figure out how to combat that problem.
Leo is great as always. Good film, lets now check out antislavery.org or amnesty and prove that Hollywood can inspire and bring out the greater good in our hearts...