Anger, Revulsion, Helplessness, Powerlessness are some of the range of feelings that one feels while seeing the movie. Money & Power have been powerful intoxicants the world over. One gets a feel of the happenings in the poorer African nations.
Plot:
It captures the life of a fisherman (Solomon Vandy) with a wife and three children. In a attack by rebels, he is taken away from them to work in diamond fields. Slavery is the norm of the day. In the absence of a concrete rule of the government, rebels revel in their own territories. This fisherman finds a large diamond. Add to the plot a fortune hunter (Danny Archer) who joins the game for that diamond and a reporter (Maddy Bowen) trying to understand the vicious cycle of the illegal diamond business and you have a wonderful movie.
The heart rending scenes are the way of life of the African people. Always at the crossfire between the government and the rebels, being newsworthy to the coffee tables of the western world, there is no value or meaning in life.
Some aspects of the movie that strike out is the determination that VAndy shows in trying to re-unite with his family especially his son Dia who has been taken in by the RUF who have succeeded in brainwashing him.
Danny is another interesting character – maybe portraying typically the life of a white man in Africa. With parents murdered when he was 9, he joins the army and is now a mercenary and a diamond smuggler.
Its sad to see the impact that violence has on generations. Children taken in at an early stage, exposed to guns and all other vices, they become disposable killing machines with no reason.
Am fortunate to be an Indian. A nation which is stable for all the complexities that it encompasses. Compare this to our own neighbours, be it the military Pakistan or the ever violent Sri Lanka or the ever in turmoil Bangladesh. India the larger of the lot and the most democratic has been largely peaceful and prosperous.
Plot:
It captures the life of a fisherman (Solomon Vandy) with a wife and three children. In a attack by rebels, he is taken away from them to work in diamond fields. Slavery is the norm of the day. In the absence of a concrete rule of the government, rebels revel in their own territories. This fisherman finds a large diamond. Add to the plot a fortune hunter (Danny Archer) who joins the game for that diamond and a reporter (Maddy Bowen) trying to understand the vicious cycle of the illegal diamond business and you have a wonderful movie.
The heart rending scenes are the way of life of the African people. Always at the crossfire between the government and the rebels, being newsworthy to the coffee tables of the western world, there is no value or meaning in life.
Some aspects of the movie that strike out is the determination that VAndy shows in trying to re-unite with his family especially his son Dia who has been taken in by the RUF who have succeeded in brainwashing him.
Danny is another interesting character – maybe portraying typically the life of a white man in Africa. With parents murdered when he was 9, he joins the army and is now a mercenary and a diamond smuggler.
Its sad to see the impact that violence has on generations. Children taken in at an early stage, exposed to guns and all other vices, they become disposable killing machines with no reason.
Am fortunate to be an Indian. A nation which is stable for all the complexities that it encompasses. Compare this to our own neighbours, be it the military Pakistan or the ever violent Sri Lanka or the ever in turmoil Bangladesh. India the larger of the lot and the most democratic has been largely peaceful and prosperous.
