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Life & Arts

'Diamond' moves those who touch it

by ROBYN MORROW
The Daily Cougar

Leonardo DiCaprio returns to the big screen with the Dec. 8 release of Blood Diamond, a film that follows two men on a mission to find a rare pink diamond.

Djimon Hounsou plays Solomon Vandy, a Mende fisherman who finds the diamond but hides it out of fear for his life. Vandy hopes to use the diamond to provide better lives for his refugee wife and daughters and to save his son, Dia, who is in danger of being drafted as a child solider in Sierra Leone. 

DiCaprio plays Danny Archer, an ex-mercenary from Zimbabwe who learns of the diamond's existence when in prison for smuggling. A former dealer of conflict diamonds -- diamonds mined in war zones and used to purchase arms -- Danny hopes to retrieve the stone to earn enough money to leave Africa.

The film also stars Jennifer Connelly as Maddy Bowen, an American journalist sent to Sierra Leone to research those who harvest conflict diamonds. Maddy hopes to contact Danny to use as a source.

After filming in Africa, the cast and crew of Blood Diamond said they felt they needed to give back to the poverty-stricken communities they visited while filming.

"We felt moved by the people there and moved by the circumstances that they have to endure day in and day out," DiCaprio said in a conference call. "It makes you thankful for what you have, but it makes you realize that you need to contribute yourself."

Hounsou said he couldn't help but be affected by the poverty he witnessed.

"As citizens of this world, it's our right, it's a duty, and we cannot stand by and watch and not do anything. It would be intolerable," Hounsou said.

Connelly said she was grateful she was able to bring her 9-year-old son to Africa while filming to visit orphanages and learn about the plight of children in the region.

"He then looked at me and said, ‘I don't understand. I don't understand how these children don't have water. Why are they dying from things like diarrhea?'" Connelly said. "I felt really grateful to have that opportunity to be there."

Director Edward Zwick said the cast and crew decided to create a fund to help those they encountered while filming in different villages.

"It's not like a World Bank project where they're building a dam someplace, where a government minister takes tens of millions of dollars and it gets siphoned off and never reaches the people," he said. "In this case, the money goes right to a truck driver, who gives it to his wife, who gives it to a hairdresser, who buys food with it, and the money circulates within an economy."

The makers of Blood Diamond have partnered with Amnesty International USA and Global Awareness to increase knowledge of the devastation caused by conflict diamonds.

For more information, visit www.blooddiamondaction.org.

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