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Blood Diamond as Reviewed by Real People
December 6, 2006
We in the industry have our own perspective of Blood Diamond and certainly have spent a great deal of time and blog space speculating on how the public might react to it. Here, however, is the first reaction we’ve heard from non-industry viewers, courtesy of my aunt and uncle, Bonnie and Leonard Schupak of Mission Viejo, Cal.—also known as The Toughest Movie Critics On Earth. Nobody’s ever beaten my aunt at movie trivia, and in their circle of friends, what Ebert says about a movie carries far less weight than what Bonnie says.
It was quite by chance that they happened to see the movie. I hadn’t spoken to them about it at all; they went entirely of their own accord. When my dad told me they’d seen it, I called to get their opinion.
Aunt Bonnie thought it was a fantastic movie. Very well done, brilliantly executed, brilliantly filmed, and brilliantly acted. (And yes, Rob and Laura, she thinks Leo has grown up!)
“It really made me aware of what’s going on over there. I had absolutely no idea things were so terrible, but it really made me stop and think about the horrible situation there,” she said.
Was she aware the movie takes place in the past and that civil war has been over since 2002?
Yes, it was clear the movie was a flashback, because it both opened and closed with scenes of a conference after the fact. But she wasn’t aware the war is over, or that the revenue from legitimately mined diamonds can help rebuild the country.
Did the movie make her feel that diamonds were the cause of the war?
No, she said it drove home the point that any valuable natural resource, be it diamonds or oil or copper or whatever, would be exploited by those seeking power.
Did it make her hesitate to buy a diamond?
“I’m not in the market for one, but if I were a young bride, I’d think I’d want to be informed as to where it came from,” she replied. I can accept that; it is, after all, the point of the Kimberley Process.
My uncle, meanwhile, is an even tougher nut to crack. His opinion of the movie was that it was good, but not great.It was an engaging story and a good action flick, though he deemed it “pretty unrealistic and James Bond-ish.”
Did it make him think differently about diamonds?
“No. Was it supposed to?”
To my uncle, it was just a fictitious story that made for an engaging movie. He didn’t see it as a great social statement.
Finally, I asked my aunt if she thought the movie was a wholesale condemnation of the jewelry industry.
“Oh, no! Not at all! Nothing like that.”
Good to know.
Posted by Hedda Schupak on December 6, 2006 | Comments (2)
