Season 1 • Episode 6
LatestIn this filmed version of Flemish author Jef Gheeraerts' novel, Robert 'Robbe' Parain, an arrogant Antwerp police detective who operates at the limits of illegality and is in personal debt, tenaciously traces but also gets personally entangled in the dark, ruthless, criminal sides of the publicly so glamorous trade in diamonds, notably in his native Antwerp, Hong Kong, Brussels and Congo.
Acting
Herbert Flack's sweat-and-scotch physicality
Production
Antwerp's diamond district, authentically seedy
Writing
Jef Gheeraerts' novel, unflinching and literary
Creator
Jean-Pierre De Decker
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Herbert Flack spent weeks shadowing actual Antwerp diamond detectives, adopting their specific limp and whiskey preferences.
The 1997 release coincided with UN scrutiny of blood diamonds; Belgian critics called it 'uncomfortably timed patriotism.' The Congo flashbacks were shot in actual former colonial administrative buildings.
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