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For most people in the western word, mobile phones have become an indispensible part of our lives, and something most people would not even think of giving up, but a new documentary film by Danish filmmaker Frank Piasecki Poulsen may make some rethink that stance.

“Blood in the Mobile” is an upcoming film which documents the lives of Congolese children forced to toil underground for days at a time in claustrophobically narrow mines digging out minerals which are bought by the telco industry and used in the production of mobile phones.

Poulsen posits that we, as consumers, all have to take our share of the blame for the ongoing illegal mining and oppressive conditions faced by Congolese slave laborers, for buying phones without demanding that companies do their utmost to make sure all the components were legally obtained. If there is a movement against conflict diamonds, why not against conflict mobiles?

“Every time we communicate through our mobile phone, we are connected with the crimes in Congo,” says the film’s website.

Poulsen’s journey takes him to a mine in Bisie in the Northeastern part of Congo where he is able to prove that children as young as 12 work in the mines which are financing the ongoing war in the region through the money they make from the likes of Finnish phonemaker Nokia, amongst others.

Nokia, reacting quickly to the allegations told a Danish newspaper it would cleaning up its act from October 2010, and that no more conflict-tantalum will be used in Nokia-phones. A guarantee for other conflict-minerals will follow in Spring 2011 says the firm, indicating that it is also acting in compliance with new US regulations for companies to publically declare if there is any risk their products contain conflict minerals.

Check out the trailer for the film below: