Oprah discusses 'Blood Diamond' today

On today's The Oprah Winfrey Show, Blood Diamond Director Ed Zwick and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou had a fairly diamond-industry-positive discussion on conflict diamonds with host Oprah Winfrey.

The episode, which was taped earlier, offered viewers information on the film and the issue, and gave airtime to how the diamond industry has addressed conflict diamonds. Winfrey didn't editorialize while praising the actors and the film, but she addressed her audience directly in a segment on what the diamond industry has done since the events depicted in the film.

"Sources say that the flow of conflict diamonds has been slowed to just one percent of the diamonds that are now in the marketplace, and it's important for everybody watching to know that the sale of conflict-free diamonds, a majority of all diamonds, is actually saving many African countries," she said before introducing a clip that highlighted the importance of diamonds to the economic health of countries such as Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and even Sierra Leone today.

While the message was clearly that conflict diamonds are bad, none of Winfrey's guests were critical of the diamond industry. DiCaprio told Winfrey that even though the movie highlights a different issue, it relates to his personal beliefs on the environment. "It was very symbolic of what we do as consumers," he told the talk show host. "When we buy something, it is a vote. We're in essence endorsing that product or that company or that corporation and how they do business.

"Neither DiCaprio, Hounsou or Zwick went so far as to tell consumers to vote against diamonds."You're not telling people to stop buying diamonds?" Winfrey asked Zwick, to which he responded, "Not at all."The episode made mention of the Kimberley Process, though not all the information was accurate. It stated that today 47 countries meet the requirements, when at this point it's 71."This is a wonderful circumstance in which the public was able, by virtue of their awareness, to create something that has changed the world," Zwick told Winfrey. "You can sit there when you walk into a diamond dealer, to a jeweler, and you can say, 'I want to see a warranty. I want to see a certificate.'

And you can make a difference that will affect thousands of lives."The show also talked about the impact of civil war on Sierra Leone in the 1990s and featured music from Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, a group of musicians who found each other in a refugee camp in the Republic of Guinea. The group—with help from the United Nations—has performed for other refugees at camps and recorded their first album, "Living Like a Refugee."

They have been featured in a documentary titled Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars and their song "Ankala" is in Blood Diamond.In addition to featuring the topic, Oprah.com also provides additional information on conflict diamonds, including links to Amnesty International, the World Diamond Council's Diamondfacts.org Web site and the Kimberley Process Web site.