\ A VOZ PORTALEGRENSE: Diamante Sangrento

quinta-feira, novembro 23, 2006

Diamante Sangrento

Set in '90s Sierra Leone, a time of chaos and civil war, Blood Diamond is the story of Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) – a South African mercenary – and Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) – a Mende fisherman.
Both men are African, but their histories as different as any can be, until their fates become joined in a common quest to recover a priceless diamond which can transform their lives.
While in prison for smuggling, Archer learns Solomon - who was torn from his family and forced to toil in the diamond fields - has found and hidden the extraordinary rough stone. With the help of Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly), an American journalist whose idealism is tempered by a deepening connection with Archer, the two men go on a dangerous journey through rebel territory, a journey which could save Solomon's family and give Archer the second chance he thought he would never have.

Controversies
De Beers Group, which controls the vast majority of the diamond trade, has expressed reservations the film will reduce public demand for diamonds. De Beers maintains the trade in conflict diamonds has been reduced from 4% to 1% by the Kimberley Process and it has been suggested the company pushed for the film to contain a disclaimer saying the events are fictional and in the past. The De Beers diamond cartel has denied this.
More recently, the New York Post has reported Warner Bros. Pictures promised twenty-seven child and teenage amputee extras for the film prosthetics upon completion of filming. Several month after the completion of filming, the prosthetics had not been supplied, and it was reported the studio told amputees they would wait until the December release of the film to maximize the publicity boost. In the meantime a private charity had to step-in and assist in supplying prosthetics to the amputees.
These allegations were countered by an article in L.A. Weekly where it was stated that Warner Bros. did not promise twenty-seven children and teenage amputees prosthetics, but that the cast and crew raised between $200,000 to $400,000 to begin the "Blood Diamond Fund" which was then matched by Warner Bros. and "administered by a Maputo-based international accountancy firm under the supervision of Laws and João Ribeiro, the production managers in Mozambique."
The film comes in the midst of an upsurge in public awareness of the conflict diamond trade, also highlighted in the media by rapper Kanye West in his song "Diamonds from Sierra Leon", a VH1 documentary about current conditions in Sierra Leone called "Bling", and a nonfiction expose called "The Heartless Stone".