Djimon Hounsou
Spotlight By: Jason Babb
Djimon Hounsou is best known for his breakout role in the film Amistad, where he plays a free man who leads a revolt. He has acted in many other films but started his career as model in Paris after being discovered by fashion designer Thierry Mugler. Djimon is originally from Contonou, Benin and came along way from sleeping under bridges at the age of 13 to being the most sought after African male actor.
Djimon (pronounced Jie-mon) has had a number of striking performances. You can't ignore his presence in his films which is why he is no stranger to sharing the big screen with Oscar winning actors such as Anthony Hopkins and Russell Crowe. He also seems to not mind taking roles that are pre-written for an African character only. Djimon instead has earned recognition for being committed to exposing the world to the themes of his films such as Slavery, African History and the contemporary wars in Sierra Leone in his new film Blood Diamond.
Djimon again plays an ascribed African role Solomon Vandy where he is a Mende fisherman in Sierra Leone who joins forces with Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) to recover a rare pink diamond. Directed by Edward Zwick and written by Charles Levitt, this movie was a conscious attempt to inform western culture about an important topic. Besides the challenging story, Djimon's sole purpose in involving himself with this project was to take on a role that brings awareness to the world. He feels this is the most powerful human story coming from Africa. It involves issues such as child soldiers, refugees, displacement and how these events affect neighboring African countries. 'It was a blessing and an instinct to dive into this story'. said Djimon.
The cast has had the luxury of having extensive amounts of documentaries to watch on the subject thus increasing their knowledge on the issue. In addition to doing background research, Djimon has visited his native country prior to filming Blood Diamond giving him a fresh feeling of his culture. He believes that he is doing justice by playing Solomon who represents many other laborers in Sierra Leone who have no voice. 'We have a responsibility as citizens of this world to really do what is necessary to change the outcome of this trading issue. I think, to do nothing is intolerable and suddenly to do something is not enough'.
Because of his African descent he feels the need and strong desire to do this. You can see what draws Djimon to these roles of African oppression and injustice. He feels that a lot of the education we receive is through movies. The films of today are so compelling they change our lives and how we view people from other continents.
During filming Djimon did a lot of intense physical work. 'No matter who goes to Africa, it just demands so much out of you', from a man who stands 6ft 4in and usually is in excellent condition. Many of the cast got hurt during filming including both Djimon and Leonardo. They busted their knees during the action sequence but there was no moment where anyone walked away from the film because of an injury.
After each scene when everyone is back to reality, Djimon realized the true-life parallels of the story made it so much more heartbreaking and emotionally devastating. 'When you are finished shooting you can see throughout the continent people are still deprived and unfortunate in so many ways', he expressed.
The chemistry between him and Leonardo has blossomed into a friendship on and off screen. Leonardo refers to him as a possible longtime friend. He has opened up his home to Djimon and his friends. Djimon spoke of Leo standing up for him when someone threatened to shoot him while they were in Africa. Leo said he will have to go through him first. The guy reportedly told him 'we don't do things like how you do in Hollywood. Over there it's bling-bling, here its bling-pow'. This is where Leo has gotten that acclaimed line from recalls Djimon. When referring to his likeness towards his co-star, 'Being African I could only embrace the guy who comes and tries to better or bring awareness about my country', said Djimon.
The violence of Blood Diamond is toned down tremendously according to the African film star. The things that happen in the war of conflict diamonds are impossible to watch realistically if they were to duplicate it. This is a serious issue being brought to light on the silver screen to all folks who have no idea how their jewelry gets to them.
One of the most pivotal scenes in the story was the reunion of Solomon and his son. This was a difficult scene for Djimon who claim that one of the reasons they are telling the story is to bring the awareness to the world that these kids cannot go back to their village as it has been completely ravaged and their mothers, fathers and sisters were killed or raped. They cannot go back to these villages without any assistance or reintegration of the system. 'Those kids are susceptible of being the rebels of tomorrow again.' Interview coming soon!
