The movie advances the plight of these people through Solomon (Hounsou), a farmer who is separated from his family when the RUF (a rebel army composed of mostly children), attacks his village. He is taken and forced to mine for these diamonds.

Jennifer Connelly plays Maddie, a reporter in Africa hoping to use her journalism to raise awareness of this problem and to oust the top levels of leadership involved in the diamond trade. Archer (DiCaprio) is a South African smuggler out for the money to be made in the industry. Anyone who denies that filmmakers can use their artistic medium to raise awareness of a situation in a non-preachy way should see this movie. This cemented my belief that movies are the modern day pulpits. More people will probably hear about Invisible Children and human trafficking issues because of this movie, than by any other source.

Recently, after expressing a low opinion of Leonardo DiCaprio, someone told me that I should see The Departed or Blood Diamond. I have not seen the former, but the latter changed my opinion of him. He does an exceptional job as Danny Archer, a South African mercenary looking to make some money on the diamond trade. Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou also do an excellent job in their supporting roles.