- Is there another way? - That bridge is the only way across, huh?
So, what do we do?
- You are RUF, huh? And I am your prisoner. - What do you mean?
You wanna see your son again, don't you? You stay behind me.
Wait, wait. Wait.
Bring that pink chicken skin over here, huh?
Now let me shoot that pink ass, boy.
Where are we going?
Lungi's under government control.
I'm gonna try to locate a sat phone to get in contact with my pilot, all right?
I have agreed to nothing.
You're in a bit of a conundrum there, my friend.
You know what that means? It means you have no choice.
So you're a fisherman, huh?
- What do you catch mostly? - Fish.
Come on.
- Hello. - Back away from the fence.
Listen, I'm from the Cape Herald, all right?
My wallet, my credentials, everything got left in Freetown.
We barely got out with our lives. Can we just get through?
Back away from the fence.
But you are not a journalist.
I'm trying to get us to Kono.
- Do you understand that, huh? - Getting B-roll. Wait.
Listen, I'm coming back. I'm coming back just now.
How's it, my bru? Have you got an extra smoke?
- Here. - Oh, cheers.
I'm looking for someone, an American by the name of Maddy Bowen.
- Lf you saw her, you would not forget it. - Yeah, I know her.
- Is it? - Yeah.
Can you tell her Danny Archer's looking for her? I've got the story she wants.
Okay, but I'm going out for a bit. If I see her before, I'll tell her.
Magic. Listen, we'll be right down the road, huh?
- Sweet. Cheers, bru. - Cheers.
It is as I said. You will say anything.
- You don't mind waiting? - No worries.
- Thank you so much. I'll just be a sec. - All right, Maddy.
Hi.
You got out.
Yes. Hello again.
- This is Solomon Vandy. - Hi.
- Hello. - Nice to meet you.
So I'm on deadline. I've been waiting four hours to use the phone.
- I've got someone holding my place in line. - I understand. Come with me, huh?
All right. Here it is.
- There's a company called Tiara Diamonds. - Right?
They get the stones that I smuggle into Liberia.
Now, Van De Kaap has no visible ties to Tiara...
...but through a series of cross holdings and offshore bank accounts...
...they actually own it. - You can prove this?
- Lf you help me out, yeah. - Right, here it comes.
Before you say anything, look at that man. You see him?
His entire village was burned down. His wife and children, they got away.
He's been working in the mining camps, trying to get his family back.
He cannot get through the red tape.
All I'm asking is this, that you help him, huh?
And how do you know this man?
- I know him. I know him. - Oh, come on, Archer.
You're using him.
I'm using him, and you are using me, and this is how it works, isn't it?
Come on. Look, you've got access to U.N. Databases.
- You can track his family for him. - Why?
This whole country's at war. Why should I help just one person?
I can't believe I just said that.
My family's here, in Guinea?
Yes, according to the manifest.
I do not know how to thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
This is what a million people looks like.
At the moment, the second largest refugee camp in Africa.
Might catch a minute of this on CNN, somewhere between Sports and Weather.
- Hello. - Yeah, hello?
I've spoken with Colonel Coedoo...
...and highlighted the names we're looking for.
- Move away. - What him doing?
Okay, I'm gonna check for you.
- Wait me there. - Okay, thank you.
We are here to help you.
This woman says she has spoken to Coedoo.
An entire country made homeless.
Two multiplied by three is equal to six.
Two multiplied by four is equal to eight.
Two multiplied by five is equal to 10.
Two multiplied by six is equal to 12.
Jassie.
Jassie!
- Jassie. - Solo.
Jassie. Jassie.
- Solomon. - Jassie.
Dia. Dia.
Where is Dia?
Jassie!
They took him.
There are only two children on the manifest.
- Where is my son? - Oh, Christ.
Where is my son?
- Away from the fence. - Where is my son?
Move away from the fence.
- Let them out! Let them out! - Keep away from the fence.
Let them out!
Away from the fence.
- They'll shoot you! - Jassie!
No! Solo!
Do you want your wife and child to watch you die?
Solo! Solo!
They said they're concerned that some of the refugees might be rebels...
...so they refused to release them until there's a cease-fire.
I'm so sorry, Solomon.
What you want, Mr. Archer, is beyond those hills...
...where I buried it.
You say the mine is on the Sewa River. Where exactly?
Solomon.
I do not need a map.
Yeah, well, I do. Look, we are down here, huh?
The press convoy is on its way to Kono.
You say the diamond mine is up here. Where did you bury it?
When we get to Kono, we're gonna have to walk, all right?
You damn well better be able to find it.
My son is a very good student.
He walks five kilometers to the Sister School...
...every morning to study English.
He's going to be a doctor one day.
"In the 90-degree heat, Solomon Vandy drops to his knees...
...rattling the wire with his powerful hands."
- What? - Nothing.
Do you think I'm exploiting his grief?
You're right. It's shit.
It's like one of those infomercials.
You know, the little black babies with swollen bellies and flies in their eyes.
So here I've got dead mothers, I've got severed limbs, but it's nothing new.
It might be enough to make people cry if they read it...
...maybe even write a check...
...but it's not gonna be enough to make it stop.
I am sick of writing about victims, but it's all I can fucking do.
Because I need facts.
I need names. I need dates. I need pictures. I need bank accounts.
People back home wouldn't buy a ring...
...if they knew it cost someone else their hand.
But I can't write that story...
...until I get facts that can be verified...
...which is to say, until I find someone who will go on record.
So if that is not you...
...and you're not really gonna help me, and we're not really gonna screw...
...then why don't you get the fuck out of my face...
...and let me do my work?
Do you know that Solomon thinks his sors gonna be a doctor one day?
Maybe his baby dies in that camp. Maybe his daughter gets raped.
Who knows, maybe both.
Do you realize that that diamond...
...is the only chance he has of getting his family out?
- You don't give a rat's ass about his family. - Do you understand that?
Listen, I need to get to Kono, all right?
The only way is with the press convoy.
I'm a journalist, and he's my cameraman, all right?
- No. - Please, Maddy.
- Please. - No!
After I smuggle the stones across the border...
...local buyers get them to a middleman in Monrovia.
Go on.
He pays off Customs and then certifies that the diamonds were mined in Liberia.
That way, they can be legally exported.
Now, once they've reached the buyers in Antwerp...
...diamonds are brought to the sorting tables...
...no more questions are asked.
By the time they get to India...
...the dirty stones are mixed with the clean stones from all over the world...
...and then they become like any other diamonds.
And Van De Kaap knows about all this?
Yeah.
When I get to London, I meet with Simmons.
Supply and demand. You control the supply, and you keep the demand high.
- Agreed. - Good.
Now, there's an underground vault...
...where they put all the stones they buy up to keep off the market...
...so they can keep the price high.
If rebels wanna flood the market with a billion dollars' won'th of rough...
...a company like Van De Kaap, who says that they're rare...
...can't afford to let that happen.
Especially when they're telling some poor sod...
...he's supposed to shell out three months' salary...
...for an engagement ring.
Now, technically speaking, they're not financing the war...
...but creating a situation where it pays to keep it going.
- You understand? - Yes. And where's my proof?
Names, dates and numbered accounts.
You publish one word of this story before I give them the stone...
...and I'm dead, huh?
After I give it to them, then... I leave this continent forever.
If you don't come out with the diamond?
Then write whatever you want.
I'm already dead.
Now, remember. All you say is, "I am the cameraman," all right?
Listen, I cannot do this.
- Why not? - Because I am not a journalist.
- Of course you're not. - Well, then how can I say I am?
Because you do. Because that's how you get your son back, all right?
Now get on the bus. Go.
I am the cameraman.
You are writing about what is happening here?
Yes.
So when people in your country read it, they will come help us, yes?
Probably not.
- You heard of a Stinger? - What?
Your friend, Maddy. She's like a full-on, heat-seeking missile, bru.
I mean, I saw her go into Afghanistan...
...like about 200 clicks into Taliban land.
When the military said no, she just took a bus, bru.
Came back with 3000 words, and she still looked so good.
- Like hot, you know? - All right.
Calm down to the frantic now, huh?
- What's that? - What's going on?
Looks like it was an RPG.
Open the door. Let us out.
- Let's go, let's go. - Come on. Go, go, go.
Go, go! Move, move, move!
We've just happened upon the sight of an ambush...
...fifteen kilometers from the Liberian border...
...near the Moa River... - As you can see behind me...
...just a few minutes ago...
...an ambulance has... - Got movement in the bush.
- Check out the head of the road. - Spread out.
- At this site. Dozens of...
Many are injured.
Get back on the bus, huh? Get back on! Come on!
- Maddy! - Move it! Move it!
Get back on the bus!
Solomon! Solomon!
- Let's go. - Solomon, come here!
- Go, go, go. - Come on, come on.
- Get in the bus! - Move, move, move! Come on, come on.
- Move! - Get in the bus. Let's go.
Get in, get in. Goddamn it, get in! Get in!
- Let me inside! - There's no fucking space!
- Let them on the bus. - You give him your seat.
What if we just take your place, huh? What if we take your place?
That's enough. He can ride with me. Oi, he can ride with me.
Maddy! Let's go! Maddy, let's go. Come on!
Nothing like a little bang-bang to get the heart started, Maddy.
- Whatever you say, Corbauld. - Come on, love. Don't be like that.
Story's played out, hasn't it? Government bad, rebels worse.
No one gives a toss anymore. Know what I mean?
This medicine will make you strong...
...make you invisible to your enemies.
Bullets will bounce off you.
Superboy Killer, yes, huh? Commando.
Foreigners are the cause of the problems.
Poppy Sankoh say, "Overthrow those who would exploit you."
I am Baby Killer.
- I am the Master of Disaster. - You will be strong.
I am Born Trouble.
I am See Me No More.
You'd think they'd want at least one decent road in this place.
I'm gonna have to start charging an entrance fee. Oh, God!
Get down!
- Look out! - Shit!
- You all right? - Fine.
Shit!
Hold on!
Come on.
- Everyone all right, huh? - Yeah, I'm fine.
Let me see that. You okay?
- Yeah. - All right.
Quietly, now. Quietly.
Come on.
Kamajors. Local militia protecting their homes, huh?
- Do not look them in the eye. - No.
Excuse me. Excuse me?
Hi, I'm Maddy Bowen with vital Affairs magazine.
Wonder if I could take your picture. I'm just gonna get my camera.
I've heard about your struggle. I'd love to know more about it.
Would you mind if I took your picture? Everyone together?
Everyone could all come in together.
Is that okay? If everyone could come closer.
If you come over here and come in nice and close. That's good.
Yeah. That's great. And we'll get one with all of us.
There you go. That's perfect.
How about one together? Us together, what do you think?
I'll come in like this, yeah?
Cheese.
So do you think they've read your work?
Shut up.
Hey, get them, get them, get them.
- I got a score. I got a score. - You missed.
Where have you come from?
- Where did you come from? - Where have you come from?
That's right. Yeah. From New York. From America.
I don't have anything for you.
My name is Benjamin Margai.
Danny Archer. This is Maddy Bowen.
- Hello. How are you? - Very well, thank you.
I'm the cameraman?
The Belgians were the first to chop off limbs in Africa.
King Leopold took one hand for every hundredth slave in the Congo...
...to keep them in line.
Many of these children were taken by the RUF.
We have taken them back.
Some of them have been made to do horrible things.
We are trying to bring them back to life.
Let me show you.
Imagine doing all this, huh?
What's your excuse?
Well, it's gotten hard to go back to sipping lattes and talking interest rates.
So you're an action junkie, huh?
Three out of five ex-boyfriends recently polled...
...say that I prefer to be in a constant state of crisis.
Maybe I just give a shit.
You were good today.
You know that?
You too.
"...that sometimes they forgot to close the door.
She also wrote about her sister Josie...
...who was very ill and who had to be taken to hospital."
Cheers.
So how many attacks have there been in the area?
I have known most of the rebels since they were children.
The local commander is still afraid I will come after him with my ruler.
So you think because your intentions are good, they'll spare you, huh?
My heart always told me that people are inerently good.
My experience suggests otherwise.
But what about you, Mr. Archer?
In your long career as a journalist...
...would you say that people are mostly good?
No.
I'd say they're just people.
Exactly. It is what they do that makes them good or bad.
A moment of love, even in a bad man...
...can give meaning to a life.
None of us knows which path will lead us to God.
Hey!
It's palm wine.
- Jesus Christ. - Yeah, yeah. It takes getting used to, huh?
God.
- Drank that as a boy. - In Rhodesia?
I take notes.
The Shona...
The Shona have a word for me.
- It means "white boy in Africa." - When did you leave?
I didn't leave.
I got sent away to South Africa in 1978 when the munts overran us.
Then you joined the army?
Yeah. Yeah, I did my time in Angola.
- The 32 Battalion. - That's right.
You know, contrary to what you might think about us...
...we fought with the blacks, huh? Yeah. Side by side.
There was no apartheid in a foxhole. The colonel always used to tell us that.
- This is Colonel Coetzee? - Yeah.
Then, of course, it's 1994. No more army.
No more apartheid.
Truth and reconciliation and all of that rubbish, you know.
Kumbaya.
We fought and died together, you know?
Black and white. Most people back home didn't even know we were at war.
We thought we were fighting Communism...
...but in the end, it was all about who gets what, you know?
Lvory, oil, gold:
Diamonds.
So one day I decided, "Fuck it," you know?
"I'm gonna get mine."
You gonna steal his diamond?
That diamond is my ticket out of this godforsaken continent.
That doesn't answer the question.
My dad came home from the war in '69.
And it took him...
...about 20 years to get right.
What?
You Americans love to talk about your feelings, huh?
So, what does that mean? What does that mean?
- Got a thing for messed-up vets now? - Shut up.
You lost both your parents.
That's a polite way of putting it, yeah.
Mom was raped and shot...
...and Dad was decapitated and hung from a hook in the barn.
I was 9.
Boohoo, right?
Sometimes I wonder...
...will God ever forgive us for what we've done to each other?
Then I look around and I realize...
...God left this place a long time ago.
It's...
What's the point, huh?
Oh, shit. Keep moving, huh?
- What? - Drive at them. They'll panic.
Do you know where the word "infantry" comes from?
It means "child soldier." They are just children.
- Stop! Stop! RUF on the road! - Hi. Hello. Hello.
Hello, little brothers.
- RUF on the road! - Yeah, yeah. What is your names?
I'm Dead Body. Who is this motherfucker?
We are teachers on our way to Kono.
Only RUF on the road.
- RUF only! - Yes, yes, I understand that.
- Only RUF! - But son, this is...
Don't move! Don't move! Fuck.
Jesus Christ! Maddy, press your hand against the exit wound there, huh?
- Got it. - Keep it there, huh?
Whatever you do, don't talk, all right?
Is there any wine left in that jug?
- Here. - Pour it all over everything, huh?
The colonel's gonna have a medic at the airstrip in Kono.
- How far is it? - You said not to talk.
A comedian, huh?
- How's his pulse? - I can feel it sometimes.
- Hold it right there. - Stop.
Papers, please.
Excuse me.
I was just trying to keep pressure on the wound.
- He's lost a lot of blood. - You'll be all right, huh?
Will you?
I'll check on him in the tent in a little bit. Thank you.
Hey.
Look who's alive, eh?
I told the H you'd be back.
I'm afraid we're evacuating all non-military personnel, miss.
Transport touches down at 1600.
She's with me, all right?
No exceptions, pal. This is gonna be ugly. Colonel doesn't want an audience.
Is I.R.'s presence here known to other African nations?
- She's with you? - Yeah.
Come on. The colonel's this way.
Give me a minute, huh?
We block their escape by blowing the bridge.
That's correct.
You made it out. Well done.
Negative, Kilo Foxtrot, stand by.
- Colonel, sir. - So must be real, then.
The pink.
Well, you're part of this operation now.
First we snuff everything that moves out there, then we find your diamond.
Colonel?
Go get kitted. Yes?
Move, move, move!
- Go get your kit. - Will do, chum. Will do.
It's go time, all right? Meet me behind the tents.
How's Benjamin?
They say he'll live.
Good. Good.
Listen, Maddy...
...I need you to do me one last favor.
Yeah?
Tell that guard you wanna put him...
...on the cover of Soldier of Fortune magazine for me.
You're going in.
You and Solomon.
You're going in now.
Your plane leaves in a few minutes, huh?
You're an idiot.
- What if I wanted to go in with you? - I'd say no.
- What if I insist? - I'd insist back.
It's my story.
Your story is Van De Kaap, all right? That stone is mine.
I'm not leaving here without it, you understand?
Please, just give me two minutes.
Yeah.
- Hello. - Hi.
My name is Maddy Bowen. I'm with vital Affairs magazine.
I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions.
Well, that depends what they are.
Oh, I see you're familiar with our devious ways, aren't you?
Okay, so I'll start with something simple.
And before that you were with the South African Defense?
- Defense Force, correct. - Of course.
And was that with Colonel Coetzee? Were you in Angola?
Angola, yeah.
That is all I really need to know. Thank you so much.
- Thank you. - Okay.
Thank you, huh?
Just keeping my end of the deal.
Good luck to you, Solomon.
Okay.
- I hope you find what you're looking for. - Thank you for all you have done.
- Listen, I... - No, you listen.
In another life maybe, all right?
Yeah. Sure.
Yeah.
You find yourself a good man, all right, Maddy?
You know, I've got three sisters.
They're all married to good men.
I prefer my life.
Here is my office phone...
...home phone, cell phone.
I'm used to being pursued, but what the heck.
You better get on that plane, huh?
You should get on that plane.
So should you.
You gonna call me?
Soon as I'm near a phone, yeah.
Yeah, right.
- Where is he? - I don't know.
Oh, shit.
Nabil? Yeah, I'll call you when we get closer, all right?
You keep me posted. Right.
All right. I set the pace, huh? Two-hour marches, five-minute breaks.
If I hold my hand up like this, you stop. If I point to the dirt, you lie flat.
If I say go, you move like your life depended on it. Understood?
- Yes, boss. - Come on.
Tell me about the stone.
Is it clear or is it milky?
Clear.
And the color, is it strong?
Does it hold the light?
It is as you say.
- About the size of a bird's egg? - Yes.
One hundred carats. Come on, let's pick up the pace.
Dia!
Stop the truck!
I thought it was Dia.
Wake up.
Don't worry, they're gone, huh?
You know, I once had this buddy...
...named Mabhoko.
We used to hunt bush meat together as kids, huh?
Baboons.
Baboons, they were the hardest to catch. They're...
They're cunning.
Cunning creatures.
Fast, strong.
Got good eyesight.
We would always find them by the smell of their shit.
And that's how we learned to track your black terrorists in Angola, huh?
By the smell of your shit.
It's not...
It's not the same as a baboors.
But, you know, after you skin it...
...the flesh of a baboon...
...isn't that much different than a mars, you know.
I'll tell you, I can track anything.
You risk my life like that again...
...and I'll peel your face back off your head.
Do you understand?
Make us a fire.
What'd he say?
We are going the right way.