Blood Diamond, Survive In A Hostile World

What do the most precious jewels really hide? What kind of consumption are we really doing? These are some of the questions we ask ourselves after watching Blood Diamond (Edward Zwick, 2006). A film full of emotions, violence, adventure and with a critical component that will not go unnoticed.

The film is built on a true story: the Sierra Leone Civil War and the diamond trade, which will serve as a framework for what we are going to witness. But Blood Diamond is not left alone in the war, but uses it to configure a new adventure story in which two characters, from different worlds, will become allies.

Danny Archer and Solomon Vandy team up to obtain a diamond that could change their lives, albeit in a very different way. Solomon sees how his life falls apart before the arrival of the war, the rebels of the United Revolutionary Front break into his town destroying families, including Solomon’s.

Solomon is recruited by the RUF to search for diamonds; These diamonds are used by the RUF to finance the war and acquire weapons. Solomon’s family manages to flee, although their little son Dia is captured and turned into a child soldier. On the other hand, we find Danny Archer, a white man who is dedicated to smuggling diamonds. The paths of both will cross in jail; Archer hears that Vandy has found a large pink diamond, so he tries to break Solomon out of jail and go on a search for the diamond.

The film, of great crudeness, has tremendously violent scenes as well as tragic. It manages to capture the pain, the powerlessness in the face of such a difficult situation and makes us partakers of something that the West prefers not to look at.

As a personal recommendation, it is interesting to see the film in its original version so as not to lose nuances of the magnificent performances of its two protagonists: Djimon Hounsou and Leonardo DiCaprio, we must not forget that the latter makes an exceptional change of accent that cannot be seen in dubbing. Both characters represent the two faces of survival in a world in which corruption, injustice, slavery and violence are the protagonists.

Blood diamond : three faces and the same reality

The leading duo will be joined by an American journalist, Maddy Bowen, an idealistic young woman who characterizes much of Western society very well. Sometimes we tend to think that we can change the world, that by contributing our grain of sand we can achieve small changes in society. And, while this statement is not entirely wrong, the truth is that, when we plunge into the darkest of humanity, this positivism tends to fade.

In the West, sometimes, we tend to forget that the world is not as easy as it has been painted for us, that it is not that idyllic place where we can achieve everything we set out to do. It is true that we are not far from corruption, nor are we exempt from violence, but there are countless problems that we are not aware of and we are participating in. In a way, the media encourages this vision, you just have to go to the news and see the treatment that is given to the same tragedy depending on where in the world it has happened.

Probably, if the tragic event occurs in Europe, it will move us and a long space will be devoted to it in the news; However, if it happens on the other side of the world, surely, take no more than five minutes and it will be treated in a more superficial way. Are we really aware of the situation that exists beyond our borders? This is one of the questions we ask ourselves when we meet Maddy Bowen.

Maddy is the faithful reflection of the young western woman who believes that she can change the world, she is the reflection of ideals and their power. However, these ideals will be of little use in an environment in which survival is the priority. Survive however it is, escape and fight in a hostile world, something that Vandy and Archer are more than used to and that contrasts with the idea of ​​Maddy.

Maddy believes that if she gets a good report, she will be able to raise public awareness or, at least, make her participate and stop looking the other way at the dramatic situation in Sierra Leone. The problem is that good intentions are sometimes not enough. We can greatly question Archer’s attitude, the fact that he gets rich off the suffering of others, and yet we discover that it is his way to survive, that all Archer wants is to be able to flee the continent.

Vandy, for his part, represents family values, his love for his family will move him to disobey, risking his own life by hiding the precious diamond. Vandy could have given up the diamond and continued his slavery by “lowering his head”, however, he decides to take a risk and will do whatever it takes to be able to reunite with his family. Despite the values ​​these characters embody, despite the questionable attitudes they may embody, especially Archer, we will soon realize that the enemy is none other than power, corruption and, in a way, the consumers themselves.

What is the price of consumption?

Blood Diamond  goes beyond drawing good guys and bad guys, it goes beyond the characters themselves. What the film really proposes is a reflection about the world we inhabit, about inequalities and the very consumption of which we are participants. It is the western countries themselves who buy the jewels that come from the exploitation and, with that money, RUF weapons are financed and they turn children into soldiers as happens to Dia.

At the same time, the three characters represent, in some way, this circle of interests : Maddy comes from the West, from the consumer society, from those people who, buying diamonds, finance weapons; Archer is in charge of acting as an intermediary between both continents, he is in charge of selling the diamonds; And finally, Solomon belongs to the world of slavery, to those who must find the diamonds that will later be sold and acquired by some wealthy Westerner.

In this way, what is shown to us is how these characters act according to their reality, their context. Each of them deals with their individual situation in the way they see fit. By crossing their paths, they will embark on a path of adventure, survival and dramatic situations. A path against the tide, a fight of David against Goliath in which the precious diamond will be the common thread and, although it seems contradictory, the path to freedom.

After seeing Blood Diamond , the echo that leaves us are countless doubts about our own role as little or no responsible consumers. Are we really aware of what we consume? Do we know if our most precious objects are not stained with blood? And we are no longer talking about precious jewels, such as diamonds, but about such simple and everyday objects as clothing, food or technology.

Is it fair to pay an exorbitant price for an object? Are we victims of the moment and place in which we were born? Is it in our power to change things? Blood Diamond opens the debate, captures before us a harsh and violent reality, traps us between perfectly drawn characters, with different lives and dreams, but with a single objective: to survive in a hostile world.