Diamantes turbios

As Episode 1 of "Rough Diamonds" (2023 release from Belgium; 8 episodes ranging 47 to 55 min each) opens, an Orthodox-Jew in Antwerp, Belgium goes to his family's Diamant District office, and commits suicide. What drove him to this? In a parallel story, we are introduced to Noah, a brother of the deceased who left the family business and now comes back to Antwerp for his brother's funeral. As it turns out, the deceased brother was in deep trouble on several fronts... At this point we are 10 minutes into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: let me state upfront that I hail from Antwerp, Belgium myself (although now a longtime US resident), so curiosity got the better of me and I just had to check this out. I was surprised how solid this (Flemish) mini-series turned out to be. Episode 1 is a bit tentative as it lays the groundwork for many characters and correlating plot lines, but by Episode 2 it becomes clear what is going on. I'll just have to say it: this mini-series is reminiscent of "The Godfather", yes! The series brings us the ups and downs of an Orthodox Jewish family, as it fights for survival in the rough diamond cutting industry (Antwerp is the diamond capital of the world, with 80% of the world's rough diamond trading). Along the way we get a unique insider's perspective of the Hasidic Jewish community (more Orthodox Jews in Antwerp than anywhere else in West Europe), AND a great look at the city of Antwerp. I immediately recognized quite a few of the scenery (we lived not far from the Diamond District, and about half of our condo building's neighbors were Jewish (some of them Hasidic). If you are not familiar with Antwerp, I think you will be surprised to discover this world-class city. Please note that Netflix shows this as being in "Flemish (with subtitles)", but in fact there is a mix of Flemish, French, Yiddish and English being spoken throughout, reflecting the thoroughly international character of the city of Antwerp.

"Rough Diamonds" premiered on Netflix about a week ago, and I fell upon it as I was going through the "recently added" stuff. I watched the initial 4 episodes just last night, and I expect to see the remaining 4 episodes later this weekend. Being at the midway point of this mini-series, I am completely invested in the story line and I can't wait to see how it all plays out. If you are in the mood for a top-notch foreign crime drama set in the exotic world that is the diamond district in Antwerp, Belgium, I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.

*UPDATE* I've now seen all 8 episodes, and this Flemish mini-series just got better and better as is went along, and I've upgraded my rating to 8 stars. There has been internet buzz about there being a second season, due to the general acclaim of this, but I'm not sure as this mini-series played out quite well and wrapped up the story lines. Of course that has never prevented other such similar stories to "creatively" find more life... We'll see.

This series provides a nice insight into jewish culture and into the diamond industry in Antwerp. The dense atmosphere that goes with a relatively closed culture that has it's own rules and values, is well portrayed.

But these are probably the most interesting aspects of this series. The story itself is all over the place with no clear plot in sight. There's a constant back and forth between plans, their failures, the repairs, threats that come and go. Continuous fuss on who's loving who and why or why not. It gets irritating at some point.

Acting is poor (especially the actors playing their roles in the district attorney ofices) to mediocre. Somehow you keep hanging in there waiting for a new unexpected twist in the storyline, but it never comes. There's quite a few unlikable characters her of which the female district attorney stands out. For some of the characters it's more or less clear why they have to be unlikable, for the district attorney this is unclear. Her unlikeability really has no function other than stirring up things at the office without this being needed or essential for the story.

There's the suggestions of development of the characters, but also this does not seem to go anywhere. This series has onsets to all kinds of developments in the storyline but is hardly ever able to deliver.

I liked the scenery, the insight given into a culture. Definitely not bad, but all in all just too little to justify a high rating.

The story and the acting are really good and convincing. I was especially moved by Marie Vinck, who plays Gila, and her chemistry with the equally talented Kevin Janssens.

Robby Cleiren (playing Eli Wolfson) and Ini Massez (playing Adina Glazer) were amazing. I really appreciated when Adina Glazer declared she is the first major female diamond trader in four generations in their community.

The series' atmosphere managed to describe dutifully the situation of the diamond industry in Antwerp as "not what it used to be", meaning that a large number of Jewish diamond manufacturers and traders have been replaced over the years by others.

My only criticism of Rough Diamonds is that Orthodox Jews in Antwerp usually do not speak with the local Antwerp accent.

The plot takes place mostly in the Antwerp diamond district, a city which I like and visited a few times. Main character Noah abandoned his orthodox Jewish family and his fiancée Gila15 years previously and events are set in motion by the suicide of Noah's younger brother, which drags him back from the UK to the uneasy relationship with his father and brother Eli. His sister Adina is the first female trader of the family and proudly so, but their business is going through a rough patch.

Noah has an unsavoury background, inclusive of a criminal mother in law named Kerra and soon everybody is thrown into shady business with drug dealers and dishonest bankers.

Throughout the story we get glimpses of the cutthroat diamond business and its diverse players, the life of women in the orthodox community and the hard life of the police that has to deal with money laundering and drug dealing. All this without any excessive violence or swearing, yet keeping a gritty edge.

So refreshing. There's something authentic about this European series that elevates it above all the US series I recently watched - and stopped watching after a few episodes. Must be because all the US series must follow a suffocating code of diversity, which often strangles the plot into a banal storylines of diverse-good/not-diverse-bad.

In this series they don't have to plant fake diverse characters, because the world shown is diverse enough to include people of different sex, ethnicity and religion.

This was so much fun to watch. It is filled with tension and many twists and turns. Everyone plays hard-ball at different times.

One is catapulted into this Jewish diamond world, and we get an inside view of the intricacies of this culture and its dealings with the society outside of them.

It is an intrigue that reminded me of other great crime thrillers. People are being played off against one another and do not know who to trust. Alliances are formed and then broken. The acting is very convincing and first-rate. We feel the dilemma of the different characters being pulled in different directions.

I am hoping for a second season.