Diamond Road

Mohammed (45) trudges along a dusty red road in Sierra Leone, his shovel thrown over his shoulder. The 'digger' is on his way to the diamond mine where he hopes to find a huge diamond. The reality is that he won't find anything like that and won't earn more than his daily dollar. The story switches to India, where thirteen-year-old Manoj starts his new life as an unschooled diamond cutter. He quit school to provide for his family. Next, the camera switches to a New York-based diamond merchant. Diamond Road follows the life cycle of a diamond. The merit of the film lies in its presence at moments when the diamonds pass through all sorts of hands: those of the Jewish trader, of the Swiss merchant, of the manager of one of the wealthiest diamond families in India, who taught his son the tricks of the trade, of the auctioneer at Christie's, of the cutters in New York and of the rough diamond traders in Antwerp. A large role is reserved for the (Jewish) trader Martin Rapaport, who fights improper practices in the trade and travels to Sierra Leone for this purpose. The famous designer Chris Aire joins him. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)