A God-forsaken place?

 
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Blood Diamond is an epic Hollywood blockbuster with a powerful political message. Nominated for five Oscars, this is a big-budget, high-profile movie starring Hollywood darling Leonardo DiCaprio. It has received mixed reviews, but there is no doubt this is a film worth watching: it boasts fantastic scenery, a great cast and a worthy aim of opening the public’s eyes to the exploitation of Africa by the West.

Set in 1999, Blood Diamond takes place during the civil war in Sierra Leone, which is being fuelled by diamonds. The film opens with Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), a Mende fisherman, taking his young son Dia (Kagiso Kuypers) to school. Solomon has high hopes for his son, encouraging him to learn English so he can eventually become a doctor. But their lives are about to change. The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) storms their village. Solomon’s wife and children escape, but Solomon himself is captured and forced by the RUF to sift through silt in search of diamonds. Solomon’s future looks up, however, when he finds an extremely rare and valuable 100-carat pink diamond in the river and manages to bury it before it is snatched away by his ruthless RUF commander Captain Poison (David Harewood).

Meanwhile, Rhodesian Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) is making his living in Sierra Leone as a smuggler. A self-styled ‘soldier of fortune’, Danny takes ‘conflict’ or ‘blood’ diamonds (stones smuggled out of war-torn countries and used to fund the conflict) over the border to Liberia to have them certified as legitimate, ploughing the proceeds into guns to protect himself from danger. Danny shrugs off any guilt about what he is doing; after all, T.I.A (‘This is Africa’).

Solomon’s and Danny’s paths cross when they are taken to the same prison and Danny finds out about Solomon’s pink diamond. Danny drops everything to go in search of ‘the pink’ that will give him financial and personal freedom. He persuades Solomon to find the diamond by promising to reunite Solomon’s family. Danny enlists the help of Maddy (Jennifer Connelly), an idealistic American journalist who wants to expose the conflict diamond trade. The three of them set out on a dangerous journey to recover the eponymous blood diamond, each with their own different motivation: Solomon to reunite his family, Maddy for the story and Danny for the money.

Blood Diamond is a story of greed. Danny Archer is motivated by money and is willing to do anything to get it. When questioned by Maddy about the numerous diamond trade deaths, Danny retorts that he doesn’t feel guilty because killing each other is the daily way of life in Africa. He manipulates Solomon, Maddy and everyone else to achieve his goal of finding the multi-million dollar diamond that he believes is his ticket out of Africa. Danny shoots anyone who gets in the way of this goal, teaches Solomon to lie and cheat, and is prepared to risk his own life for it.

The RUF rebels reveal the depths of human depravity and greed as they kill senselessly to gain control of the land and diamond fields. They capture numerous young boys, including Solomon’s son Dia, and force them to become child soldiers. There is a horrific scene in which these young boys are blindfolded and told to shoot the whimpering captives in front of them. The boys then graduate and are seen shooting women and children randomly as they attack local villages without mercy. Diamonds have corrupted men, women and even children.

Blood Diamond also touches on the wider theme of interaction between Africa and the West. The film shows the impact of western consumerism on the lives of poor Africans. The condemnation of the conflict diamond industry and the resulting arms trade is, of course, explicit. But there is also a mention of the wider exploitation experienced by other African countries where different valuable commodities such as oil and timber have been found. The inadequate response of the West is highlighted: a few meetings between diamond industry big wigs and the United Nations to ban conflict diamonds are contrasted with the blatant disregard for this on the ground. Maddy surveys one Sierra Leone refugee camp and comments, ‘this is what a million people look like. You might see thirty seconds of this on CNN, between the sports and the weather’, revealing that the West isn’t really interested at all. Again, human greed and selfishness, especially in the West, come across loud and clear.

Despite this portrayal of human depravity, Blood Diamond does offer its audience some glimmer of hope. On an individual level, Solomon’s love and concern for his family shines through, providing a contrast to Danny’s preoccupation with himself. Danny, Solomon and Maddy come across Benjamin (Basil Wallace) during their jungle trek – a man who has dedicated his life to rescuing child soldiers from the RUF. His kindness shines through, although it is not repaid as he is shot when trying to talk gently to two child soldiers guarding a bridge. As the film progresses, we become more sympathetic towards Danny as we learn about his family background and see he is capable of loving Maddy and thinking of others, although he never loses his ‘me first’ attitude. On a global scale, the end of Blood Diamond provides some evidence that the West is listening and wants to take steps end the trade in conflict diamonds.

Despite these small glimmers of hope, Blood Diamond is ultimately an exploration of exploitation. The rich exploit the poor, the West exploits Africa, adults exploit children and individuals exploit each other. Greed and self-interest drive this exploitation, and the civil war demeans the value of life as thousands are senselessly killed. Blood Diamond asks some poignant questions about good and evil, although it is not able to answer the questions it poses. Danny confesses that he sometimes wonders ‘if God will forgive us for what we have done to each other, then I look around and realise that God left this place a long time ago’. Does the exploitation in Africa and human capacity for evil mean that God has left this world? The Bible clearly explains why humans can act in such a depraved way. We have all rejected God in our lives and therefore ‘there is no-one righteous, not even one’ (Romans 3:10). It is our rejection of God that leads to broken relationships with others, greed, selfishness, exploitation and hatred, leaving humanity in the bleak state we see today. Most of us, thankfully, never encounter the full force of human evil, yet we experience something of its reality in our own lives and relationships.

However, God has not abandoned this world. There is real hope of forgiveness – even in terrible situations of conflict. God sent his only son Jesus Christ into the world to die for us, so that anyone, no matter what they done, who genuinely turns to God for forgiveness will receive it. It’s easy to feel that some people don’t deserve it, and to forget that neither do we – it all depends on God’s mercy and grace. And for those who do accept this offer of forgiveness, God promises that they will be with him forever in the new heavens and earth – a place entirely free from exploitation, greed, conflict and any other evil. This is a promise that provides more than a faint glimmer of hope.

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