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 inherently 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, l... - 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 baboon's.
But, you know, after you skin it...
...the flesh of a baboon...
...isn't that much different than a man's, 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.
Hold up there, my man. It's this way, huh?
Where do you think you are going?
Stop!
I said, stop!
He is not down there, all right?
All right. You're gonna need some of that old discipline, huh?
Now you listen here, my boy, and you listen well.
You are not going down there. Are we clear?
You are not the master.
Right now, that is exactly what I am, and you'd better remember it, Kaffir!
Don't you fucking move, huh?
Don't you move. Don't you move, huh?
- My son is there! - Your son is gone!
- He is alive! - He's gone!
He's alive! He's there with those crazy people!
I am his father! His father! I should have protected him!
I must go find him. I cannot live without knowing!
Shoot me if you want, but I'm going.
Why should it matter, I'm dead already.
We wait until dark, huh?
Are you satisfied?
All right, come on.
- is fighting for Sierra Leone
RUF is fighting for Sierra Leone
Go tell my parents They may see me no more
In the battlefield We're fighting forever
Go tell my parents They may see me no more
In the battlefield...
You are how old?
Me? I'm 31.
And you have no wife?
- No. - No children?
No.
And no home?
No.
But you have money, yes?
Yeah, some.
But not enough?
No.
If you get this diamond, you will have enough money, yes?
Yes.
Then you will get a wife and children?
Probably not, no.
What?
I am confused.
Yeah?
That makes two of us, my bru.
Oh, Christ. I've gotta quit smoking, huh?
Why don't you?
I'll tell you what, Solomon.
You find me this diamond, and I'll quit right then and there, huh?
- You were born in Zimbabwe? - Oh, yeah.
- Is it beautiful there? - Sure you're not a reporter?
Because you ask a hell of a lot of questions, my man.
My grandfather told many stories of war.
How the Mende fought the Temne.
Or how two tribes would fight when somebody had stolen a woman.
I understand white people want our diamonds, yes?
But how can my own people do this to each other?
I know good people...
...who say there is something wrong with us...
...inside our black skin.
That we were better off when the white man ruled.
But my son is good.
And when he grows up...
...and peace comes...
...this place will be a paradise.
We'll get your son back, huh?
Where is it exactly?
Through the camp, by the river.
Christ.
Okay.
I'm gonna make contact with the colonel.
He'll send in an air strike.
- What is that? - A chopper, huh? An attack helicopter.
- We use it as a diversion. - What if my son is there?
- He isn't. - How do you know?
I said we do it my way now, all right? Don't fuck with me.
Cordell, it's Danny.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shut up and listen, all right?
You tell the colonel I've found the stone.
No, I haven't got it in my hands, but I'm oP-ing its location.
It's a major rebel camp, my man.
You tell him to send in the dakadak.
Because I stole a GPS, that's how.
If you shut up and listen, I could give the coordinates.
Zero-nine-zero-five-four-two-four, north.
Three-two-seven-two-nine three-zero-five-zero, east.
I'll call back at midnight to confirm.
You can look all night, my friend, right?
I promise you he is not there.
They're coming in the morning, all right?
No movement, my friend. You stay still.
When it gets dark, then we move in closer.
Solomon. Shit.
I can do it.
- Help me. - Help him.
Thank you, Papa.
Hey, you smell.
That's fine.
- Ready? I'm winning. - Okay, let's go.
Play, man.
- Play. Play the card. - Play.
Dia.
Leave me alone.
- Dia. I'm your papa. Come with me. - Hey.
- Dia. - Get away from me.
- Dia. Dia! - I do not know you. Traitor!
- Enemy! Enemy! - What the hell are you doing?
- What are you doing? - I don't know you!
- What's wrong? - I hate you!
- Dia, come with me! - I hate you!
Get away from me!
- Get him! - Don't shoot!
- Don't shoot! Don't...! Don't shoot! - I hate you!
- Fisherman! Traitor! - Don't shoot!
Get away from me!
I knew you would come back.
I have dug and dug and dug, but I've found nothing.
Nothing.
Dig, dig, dig!
You will find it for me.
You will dig up what you have come back for.
No.
Why should the diamond go to the foreign devils?
We will use it to make the country strong.
RUF is fighting for the people!
RUF is fighting for Sierra Leone!
Pick it up.
Why? You are going to kill me anyway.
I do not need to kill you, Solomon Vandy.
If you do not bring me the diamond...
...I will find the rest of your family.
Just as I have found your son.
I will rape your wife in front of your eyes...
...slit her throat...
...and I will keep your daughters for myself.
You think I am a devil...
...but only because I have lived in hell.
I want to get out.
You will help me.
I don't remember.
Find it or your family will die!
Now pick it up!
- Go! - Bastards!
Shoot it!
Dia!
Come, boy. Come. This way. This way.
Dia!
Colonel, we think Archer's there.
I don't give a damn who's down there. Kill them all.
Dia!
I'm coming!
- Dia! - Bastard!
No!
Dia!
- We found his digger, sir. - Keep him close.
- Danny boy. - Colonel.
- Thanks for calling it in. - Yeah, yeah. Always happy to help, huh?
So where is it? The stone?
We split, huh? Fifty-fifty, all right?
Look around you, Danny boy.
You're not in a position to be dictating terms.
Then you will never find it, sir.
That's correct.
- But he will. - Come. Up.
Introduce me to your digger.
Solomon Vandy.
This is Colonel Coetzee. He wants the diamond.
- No more than you. - Fuck.
You gonna show us where it's hidden?
Does he speak English?
He will only tell me, sir. I promise you that.
- Let me talk to him, huh? - Go on.
All right, my friend.
End of the line here, huh?
- You just tell him where it is, all right? - I do not trust him.
I don't trust him either, but we haven't got much of a choice here.
I promise you he will shoot us both in the head.
Right, tell him, huh? Tell him where it is, huh?
- Go on. Come on. - I'm not feeling the love, Danny.
All right. No more messing about, all right?
I said tell him where it is! Tell him where it is! Now!
Tell him!
- No. - Fucking...
Danny, there are other ways to do this, okay?
Yeah, yeah.
- If he tells us, do we have a deal, sir? - Seventy-thirty.
Sixty-forty. I've already lined up a buyer.
Agreed.
Come here.
This is his son. Vandy will do whatever you want for his sake, all right?
Danny, you're a pisser, man. Well done. Boys, we move out.
What do you say, Mr. Vandy?
- You ready to take a walk? - Come on.
Come on.
So who's the buyer? I'm guessing London.
Well, they no longer accept conflict diamonds, huh?
Wouldn't hurt to interest some other parties.
- Start a bidding war. - What, one war's not enough for you, huh?
I missed you, Danny.
See? It is here. He has tried to find it.
All right, Mr. Vandy. Time for you to start digging.
Hey, boet, have you got a smoke?
Smoking will kill you.
Sorry.
It's all right.
Time I quit smoking anyway, huh, Solomon?
- It's gone. - What?
Someone has taken it.
This is where I buried it. It isn't here.
Well, then there's no reason for any of you to stay alive. Is there?
Wait, wait, wait.
I know, I know. I know where it is.
- I know where it is. - It better be there.
Yes.
Oh, here, here. It is here.
- Yeah? Yeah, there it is. - Yes.
Fuck!
TIA, huh, Danny?
TIA.
Keep digging, huh? They'll be here any second. Come on.
Keep digging.
- It had better be there, huh? - Yes, yes.
Have you got it?
- Have you got it, huh? - Yes, got it. Oh, yes.
Oh, yes.
Solomon.
Dia, what are you doing?
Dia.
What are you doing?
Of the proud Mende tribe.
You are a good boy who loves soccer and school.
Your mother loves you so much.
She waits by the fire making plantains...
...and red palm oil stew with your sister N'Yanda...
...and the new baby.
The cows wait for you.
And Babu, the wild dog who minds no one but you.
I know they made you do bad things...
...but you are not a bad boy.
I am your father...
...who loves you.
And you will come home with me and be my son again.
Solomon, we've got to move, huh?
We've got to...
Go, go! Move!
Move. Move.
Move, move, move!
Move! Move! Move!
How far?
There's an airstrip at the top of that gorge.
A plane will meet us, huh?
Hey, stop. Stop.
Give it to me. Come on, give it to me, huh?
Keep moving. They'll be tracking us.
Nabil, where are you?
I'm nearly there. Tell me what's happening.
We're about 10 K's out, huh? We've got it, my friend.
- Who is we? - The fisherman and his son.
Lose them.
It's at the top of that ridge there, huh?
You must stop and rest.
What? And give up the damn stone?
Keep moving. Come on.
Come. Come, come.
I can't. Stop.
- Okay. - Stop.
Come on.
No! God, no. Stop.
Christ. No more. No more.
Take it, huh?
- Mr. Archer... - Take it, take it.
I thought you would steal it from me.
Yeah, yeah, it occurred to me, huh?
Listen...
...this is Maddy's card, huh?
You call her when you get to Conakry, all right?
And don't trust that pilot for a second.
You point this at his head if he fucks around, all right?
I can carry you.
You take your boy home, huh?
You take him home, huh?
- Go! Go! - Go. Come on.
Go on!
Come on. Come on.
Archer, you're a dead man!
Yeah, yeah.
Dia.
Hello. Maddy Bowen.
Yeah.
Thought I'd never call, huh?
And I'm so glad you did. Excuse me.
When am I gonna see you?
Maddy, I want you to do me one more favor, huh?
I want you to go meet Solomon in Conakry.
In Guinea? Why do you want me to go to Guinea?
We found his son...
...but he's gonna need some help, you understand?
Maddy?
You're hurt.
Are you hurt?
Yeah, well, I've got a little problem here.
Okay. You... You tell me where you are.
Archer?
I'm looking at an incredible view right now.
I wish you were here, Maddy.
Okay, then I'm coming to be with you. You just tell me where you are.
I don't think so.
Are you still in Kono? Because I can get someone there to help you.
Maddy, you find someplace safe for the boy, all right?
And keep him out of sight.
And get Solomon to London.
He's bringing something with him.
But he's gonna need your help.
Why aren't you bringing it yourself?
I'm saying it's a real story now.
And you can write the hell out of it.
I'm really happy I met you.
You know that?
Yeah, I'm...
I'm really happy I met you too.
And I wish I could be there with you.
That's all right.
I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.
When we get to the stairs, you just keep walking...
...and I'll wait for you here.
You're not coming.
I'm not here. Good luck.
You must understand, Mr. Vandy...
...that your diamond could have ended up nowhere else but with us.
- It is not enough. - I assure you, 2 million pounds...
...is more than anyone else will offer you for that stone under the circumstances.
I want what was promised to me by Mr. Archer.
- What was promised to you? - My family.
When they are here, you will get the stone.
I will have the money too.
Well, may I see what I'm buying?
You will get the stone once my family is here.
How do I even know you've got it?
Can you comment on the diamonds mined in Sierra Leone?
I'm not going to comment on some sensationalist magazine article.
- What about Liberia? - No comment. No comment.
- Mr. Van De Kaap... - That's all I have to say.
The natural resources of a country...
...are the property of its people. They are not ours to steal...
... or exploit in the name of our comfort, our corporations, or our consumerism.
They're ready for you, sir.
The Third World is not a world apart.
And the witness you will hear today speaks on its behalf.
Let us hear the voice of that world. Let us learn from that voice.
And let us ignore it no more.
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Solomon Vandy.
[ENGLISH]