BLOOD DIAMOND

Blood Diamond




Mel and I finally got to see a movie last night that we've been wanting to watch for a while - Blood Diamond. Although the movie is infomative about the problem of how diamonds are (sometimes) harvested (slave labor), and makes some close-to-home indictments of the world and American market that drives that industry, it really isn't a movie about diamonds. That just happens to be the context of the story.

It's really about what life is like for too many people in too many parts of Africa today. A standard that is unexceptably and savagely destructive. When I say "savage", I don't mean that the people are inherently savages. I mean we are all inherently savages when faced with the kind of desparation and hopelessness that too many people in too many parts of Africa must live with. Many of their conditions are not self-created. Many have more global and economic ties. Anyway...

We have been concerned about the problem of child soldiers for a couple of years now, not to mention epidemic rape, murder, and genocide. We think people ought to see this movie becouse it does what good movies do - it leverages the immediacy and rawness of film to communicate the reality of a situation.

I guess this is all to say that we recommend you view the film, and we'd like to know what you think. We are in the middle of thinking about what we can practically do - the first thing being advocating for awareness of the situation. You can follow the links at the bottom of our blog to sites that deal with similar issues.

A warning. The film is extremely intense and emotionally exhausting. There is quite a bit of graphic violence.

I (Mel) cried for awhile after seeing the film. My heart hurt over what many have and are currently dealing with. And I know God's heart is also hurting to see his children killing others, to see families torn apart, etc... Life has so much meaning and I couldn't get over how so many live in such tragic situations - so much hurt, abuse, evil. I am so grateful that I have seen this film. My heart has been moved, and I pray God will continue to touch me in regards to what is going on here.