Fairy Tale and Film

A Simple Plan
, listens too much to his wife, 
Llewellyn doesn’t pay his enough heed, and his greed condemns them 
both. In both cases tainted money is shown to be traceable, and its 
unwitting finders are assured only of trouble.
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Although many contemporary crime dramas leave a bitter taste in 
the mouth, refuting the idea that there is any such thing as easy money, we 
might conclude this chapter with a reminder of tales that seek to provide 
audiences with the vicarious pleasure of seeing unlikely heroes take risks, 
and profit accordingly, while also providing an ideological feel-good fac-
tor. The triumph of the underdog has been given more explicitly political 

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Wealth through Stealth 
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affiliations in US thrillers based abroad, set in starkly divided societies 
where money offers a means to escape dire circumstances. Interestingly, 
those initially seeking wealth ultimately forfeit it to those more in need. 
Blood Diamond
(Edward Zwick, 2006) is an ‘Ali Baba’ rewrite in some 
ways, rewarding the man who happens to come across an incredible 
treasure, rather than the one actively searching for it. Set during the civil 
war in Sierra Leone, we are shown how diamonds are used to fund mur-
derous conflict, yet far from admonishing the quest for wealth, the film 
affirms its life-changing potential. The narrative follows a rags-to-riches 
premise, charting the extraordinary good fortune of its hero, Solomon 
Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), who finds a rare diamond when forced to 
mine by rebels, successfully hides it before his imprisonment, and sub-
sequently manages to relocate it with the help of white diamond smug-
gler, Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio). Although Archer’s motives are 
self-serving until he is fatally shot, he atones for his involvement in the 
diamond trade by providing information aiming to expose international 
complicity in the war and helps Vandy’s desperate family get out of the 
country (relinquishing the dream he had for himself). 
A similar sense of conscience mitigates the treasure hunt in 
Three 
Kings
(David O. Russell, 1999). The story is set in Iraq, 1991, at the end 
of the first Gulf War. Three American soldiers discover a map detail-
ing the location of ‘Saddam’s Gold’ – bullion he originally stole from 
Kuwait – and set about finding it. Although they plan to keep this loot 
for themselves, the Iraqis they encounter during this heist elicit an 
important degree of sympathy, and they decide to forfeit the treasure. 
Realising they have no legitimate claim on it, they pay off fellow sol-
diers to allow Shi’ite rebels to flee across the Iranian border, and return 
the remainder of the haul to Kuwait. It is interesting to note that the 
original script by John Ridley did not have these altruistic intentions 
in mind. James Mottram reveals that its main theme was greed and 
betrayal, based on John Huston’s 
The Treasure of the Sierre Madre
(1948), 
in which the lust for money ends in murder (Mottram, 2006: 268). 
As Marina Warner affirms, Huston’s film was itself inspired by an 
Arabian Nights
tale in which three men have their deaths prophesied 
under a tree and end up killing each other at this spot seeking to gain 
sole custody to the treasure beneath (2012: 11): a plot encapsulated by 
the tale type ‘Treasure Finders Murder One Another’ (ATU 763). A film 
originally intended to be a warning tale, following a similar narrative 
message to 
Shallow Grave
and 
A Simple Plan
, thus became neatly inverted 
by David O. Russell’s script, giving the soldiers of fortune a redemp-
tive about-turn that not only saves them, but potentially redeems our 

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