Blood Diamond Budget

[Penny Bozic]

Blood Diamond is a 2006 American political action 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.

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 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.

In 1999, Sierra Leone is ravaged by civil war. The Revolutionary United Front terrorizes the countryside, and enslave many locals to harvest diamonds, which fund their increasingly successful war effort. Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), a Mende fisherman from Shenge, is separated from his family and assigned to a workforce overseen by Captain Poison (David Harewood), 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 the stone before being captured. Vandy and Poison are incarcerated in Freetown along with Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), 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 (Arnold Vosloo), an Afrikaner formerly with the apartheid-era South African Defence Force (whom Archer also served under in the 32 Battallion), 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 the diamond.

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 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 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 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 the film, then titled Okavango.[4] 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.[4] Leavitt researched the diamond industry at great length before he began writing the screenplay, explaining that he has "always been a stickler for immersing [himself] in research".[5] 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.[5] Paula Weinstein was impressed by Leavitt's Blood Diamond draft, but hired writers Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz to rewrite it. By the time he had completed the script, Zwick had become so interested in the story that he agreed to direct the film as well.[6]

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."[16] Dana Stevens of Slate magazine wrote, "Blood Diamond 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."[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.[18]

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 the horrors of war, but as a social statement it falls a little short. And emeralds are prettier anyway."[19] 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."[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".[21] 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."[22] Mick LaSalle of 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".[23]

Blood Diamond: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the film of the same name, released on December 19, 2006, by Varse 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.[29] Both a single-disc and a two-disc version were released.[30][31] The film has sold an estimated 3.6 million DVD units and has grossed $62.7 million in sales.[29]

It is the story of the two men and the unlikely bond formed by them that drives the film. DiCaprio, despite being driven by greed, is more like Honsou in his soul than with his one-time master who now directs a private army or the soulless executives of the diamond company who pay him for bloodied stones. Both actors bring this to life on the screen and ends with the cinematic death of one.

First of all, forget all the bullshit about two months of salary. That is pure marketing nonsense. Look at your own financial situation to decide what you can comfortably afford. I asked more than 1,500 of my readers, and depending on income, people typically spent between 4% and 8% of their yearly income.

?I really love you and I?m excited to spend the rest of our lives together. I know we?ve talked about marriage already, but there?s actually something I want to bring up that I want to be open with you about: I?d love to talk about the ring. It?s something I?ve been thinking about, and I?m guessing you?ve been thinking about it too.

?I want to talk to you about something that makes me a little uncomfortable but want to be honest about: From the last time we talked, it seemed like the ring you wanted was XYZ. Am I reading that right?? (Clarifies any misunderstandings you might have)

?Based on our budget, I can?t do the one you want right now. But I heard what you?re looking for and I?m going to do my best to find the most perfect ring to signify our relationship.? (Shows that you?re honest about the situation but also considerate of what she wants. Now begin wrapping up)

Next, I asked some of my female friends for their jeweler recommendations. Many of them had helped friends shop for their engagement rings. They had different perspectives on the rings, including things to pay attention to if you actually wear jewelry.

I ended up with a list of five jewelers. Four were in NYC and one was in the Caribbean (you call him and he ships the diamonds to a local NYC jeweler). In retrospect, three to five is a good range of jewelers to give you a sense of the different options and prices. Also, you want them to compete against each other.

Now I planned my visits. In an ideal world, you should start this process six to eight weeks before you propose since it takes time to find the ring. I was running a little late (Cass had told me she wanted to be engaged in Q1 yes, I knew she was the girl of my dreams when she used financial quarters to talk about engagements), so I had to accelerate things by getting efficient.

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