Bling: A Planet Rock (2007) Reviews

• Bling = Shame

  Zen Bones2007-09-22

  This is a documentary about several rappers who are famous for being draped in bling, and one of the guys who designs bling for them. They're banded together to go on a fact-finding trip to Sierra Leone. It's a harrowing experience; visiting children with missing limbs, women who were raped incessantly as girls, and some of the poorest areas in the world (including a major port for slavery, where one can still see the shackles on the walls). It's a wake-up call for these rappers as well as for the audience but I'm not optimistic. Apparently, this documentary aired on VH1, but thus far, there aren't even five ratings at IMDb. And given the fact that the guys were still wearing their gold at the end of the film (apparently no one told them that gold mining countries face the same level of poverty and exploitation) I have to wonder how much these guys are going to change, let along work to educate the public about what they saw. They said they would, so I will try to have faith. The people of Africa are laying their hopes at the feet of role models like these.

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• depressing reality of sierra leon and blood diamonds

  edt-92010-03-07

  the whole point of the hip hop culture, rap, the bling lifestyle is a sort of superhero culture. It's not about the reality of being poor and not being able to make a living, it's about escaping from it. Thats the point of bling. the point of this movie is to put rappers, some bling makers, and tego calderon, who came from the worst conditions of blood diamond wars back in sierra leon. I get the feeling the point of this movie is to rub reality in the noses of the rappers. but like tego calderon says, of the women raped, the amputees, the blood diamonds . . . "It's too much to take." depressing. I'm not sure the best way to raise awareness for the problem of blood diamonds, but this movie has just too much reality.

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