Apparently, some people are upset that Blood Diamond gave a negative portrayal of Sierra Leone.
I think it’s ridiculous for people to argue over whether or not the movie is positive or negative. The themes of the movie—war, violence, amputation, exploitation—are negative so it’s ineviatable the movie will be negative. But banning it!!?? That’s just dumb. That would be like Germans calling for every Holocaust film to be banned because it’s negative.
What bothered me about the movie is the fact that it wasn’t even filmed in Sierra Leone. Most of it anyway. The beach bar scene was not filmed at the beach in the capital, Freetown. The cast was not even Sierra Leonean: their accented Krio was a dead giveaway, as was their accented English. Sierra Leoneans don’t roll their Rs the way East and Southern Africans do. Also, there are no cheetahs in Sierra Leone, and the fishing village in the opening scene was obviously somewhere in Eastern Africa. Sierra Leonean fishing boats are large, dug-out canoes that are propeled by paddles or motors, not sails. Those triangular sails are found in East Africa.
Apparently, some filming was done in Sierra Leone but, according to the director, “Equatorial West Africa just didn’t have the infrastructure to accommodate all our needs for this size production. We needed other locations, as well.” In the end, most of the film was shot in South Africa and Mozambique, which is a pity because Sierra Leone can hold it’s own against any African country in terms of natural beauty and the recovering tourist industry would no doubt have benefited tremendoulsy from the publicity.
Although the plot was entertaining and action-packed, I was repeatedly irritated to see scenes that were obviously not Sierra Leone. Ultimately, Blood Diamond got away with not being filmed on location because of the audience’s ignorance about Africa. Anyone who knows the difference between West, East, and Southern Africa would have been disappointed.
Perhaps the filmmakers did not expect any Sierra Leoneans to see their movie, which is sad because wasn’t the movie supposed to be about the Sierra Leonean experience? It’s possible they were only interested in profiting from this national catastrophe. I understand that Hollywood studios exist to make money for their shareholders but the least they could have done was shoot more of the movie in Sierra Leone.
Hollywood does what it wants. You are right. Most people aren’t going to know about authenticity as you describe.
Since you do know these things I can see how it would bother your sensibilities. It would be like someone coming to Seattle to film a story about San Francisco. Not exactly spot on.
Patrick
I have just seen the film for the first time and to be honest, I am ignorant to the variations in Africa but the film made it’s point: It showed the horror that has been. That was the important bit. If i wanted to see a film about Africa then I would watch a documentary
I do agree that it’s a shame more wasn’t filmed here(Sierra leone). I’ve been in SL for 11 months now and it is CERTAINLY beautiful. I havent been up toward Kono(It’s a pretty stupid idea for anyone to go there unless you’re authorized). I havent seen the movie since coming, though I’d love to and plan to before I leave in a few weeks, but from the screen shot above- the likeness to Freetown is 100% candid… it reminds me of a section downtown to a T… As for your comments about the boats- you’re seriously mistaken about the sails. Yes they’re dugouts and they are normally propelled by an engine, or most of the time paddles, however, there are DEFINITELY sails… how effective they are depends on their creator, but they are DEFINITELY a west african thing… they have them in Benin… it’s not a strictly South African thing.
It is indeed a shame to not be filmed in SL- the mountains and beaches are 100% stunning, but I think it gets the point across- that this terrible war happened to these people and their story was told. Living here- I can say- I see so many of the stories of the people I’ve helped in these people… Some things are a little off, but that’ll always without a doubt happen no matter what movie you produce- something will always me inauthentic…. but that’s the film industry for you!
Thanks for the post!
I live in Philadelphia Pa and they (hollywood do it all the time. The have made moveies about Philadelphia and not one scene showed any thing about Philadelphia.