bling on the blood

BLING BLING

Good fortune can spell great disaster as many nations around the world blessed richly in natural resources have shown. (See country named TIMOR-LESTE for a good case study of natural resource exploitation, political manipulation, corruption and human rights abuse.)

I finally caught my first big screen movie in a year and it happened to be Blood Diamond. The story ain't new but I guess sometimes it does take a powerful mainstream film like this one to spread the message more widely. I mean, the average Joe or Jane probably would not be bothered about where the diamonds came from with the occasional news piece, but movies like this one can really widen the consciousness. Seems like there have been a gradual increase in such films with a 'conscience'like documentaries except much more interesting and they don't bring on the Z monster and bring you to dreamland within 5 minutes.... Speaking of diamonds, there was a newsflash in August last year about the possibility of finding diamonds in the Timor Sea.....in the Tiwi Islands.... thankfully not anywhere near Timor-Leste if not, the little half-island might suffer another round of marauding from its 'friends'.

I once met a guy who gave me a ring (white gold, with a trendy wave on the top) studded with 8 little diamonds, after we had dated for two weeks. yeah, he was kinda creepy cos what kind of guy gives a diamond ring so soon? anyways, his Miata and the diamond ring did nothing to save the ill-fated 'relationship' (if i may even use the word) and i hope he realises that diamonds may be a girl's best friend but they sure can't buy her heart. I never returned the ring - it's gathering dust in a cupboard somewhere at home.

I read with interest that Jennifer Connelly the actress in the film wore 'conflict-free' diamonds from Bulgari to the press conference for the film. wow! shameless advertising!!! She could have simply said "conflict free diamonds" but she slipped in the B word. Anyways, the film is a big big product placement success and surely heavily financed by the diamond industry eager to clean up its tainted reputation. A PR exercise that will be rather successful after the widespread distribution of the film - and of course, they will make sure it is dubbed in major languages where diamonds are sought after.... like Japan for instance... where women are buying diamonds for themselves because many are single, wealthy and rather lonely. Oh and with 'conflict-free' diamonds, i am sure, the prices are higher than ever cos to ensure their conflict free status, there is actually a paper trail and tamper proof rough diamond boxes and all, adding more costs surely and a perfect excuse to hype up the prices. But this IS an ostentatious good so the pricier the better! You know how the young people find affordable diamonds completely offensive!

Anyways, i wonder which genius first popularised the act of putting a stone on the woman's finger and making that stone so uber expensive. It does shine real nicely though, and a big huge one can be a good self-defense weapon in disguise. (has to be well-cut!)

Accoprding to this website, we can "blame it on Archduke Maximilian of Austria. He started the diamond ring trend in 1477 when he presented one to his beloved, Mary of Burgundy."

I guess what struck me most about the film was the scenes where the gunmen were spraying their bullets all over and wiping out lives ruthlessly. It was only then that i realised that the May 25th incident in Timor has really left a deep mark in me. Although i don't have nightmares of what happened or fear looking at blood, but the minute the guns went off in the film, i really felt something inexplicable going on inside my body - everything welled up inside me and for a few scenes, i could not help the tears from flowing. It was strange cos i knew the film was fake and i have always stomached violence in celluloid pretty well - like in Black Hawk Down. But that day in the theatre, i felt something inside me i could not explain. It woke up a deep fear in me, which i thought had been wiped away. I still can't help thinking of the few police officers that we did basic first aid on are now. I heard that one of them (whose thighs were shattered completely cos of the point blank shots) is recovering well and actually got married (to a timorese) while in Darwin. He's still there i presume and it may be a while before he can walk without aid.

A most touching scene was when the father Solomon Vandy spoke to his son who had been brainwashed into being a child soldier, and seeing the little boy finally decide to open his heart again to his father. It made me wish that every parent in Timor would go up to their sons and do the same and bring them away from violence too. Africa has its child soldiers.... how far is Timor from having a similar generation of children wielding machetes and culling without fear? Already the resistance against Indonesia has marred the childhood of an entire generation, a cycle not easy to break. It will take much political will and also great humanity and love to move out of this viciousness.

Timor timor... never far from my mind. Today, A returns to Timor. Hope he stays safe there.