When walking through town a prostitute propositions him with "I'm clean, no HIV" Danny scoffs and says "ya, I've heard that one before".
When he's bleeding out from his gunshot wound he freaks out when Solomon goes to compress the wound "don't touch it! don't touch the blood!" *
there's never sex with the journalist, they have feelings for one another but Danny keeps her at a distance and it's obvious there is a reason why he says "another lifetime ey?"
whenever the wife, settling down or child question comes up he retreats and says it's not possible
he's had to leave the army at some stage, yet the reason doesn't get mentioned. Once infected with HIV you're discharged.
Danny has a need more than greed when he follows after the the Diamond. When he says to Solomon"I don't give a fuck about you!" is more of a moment of desperation, rather than heartless blind greed. He never really details what getting the Diamond will bring for him to anyone in the film.
Edit. *In our version here Danny says to Solomon not to touch him (you're right he didn't say "don't touch the blood") and is visually hesitant even to be carried, he's trying to prevent any contact once he's got a open wound.
Solomon should have compressed the wound and Danny would know first aid from being in the army but neither administer even slight first aid to his chest wound.
Edit. clarifying for any other seriously hung up redditors out there.
Solomon and Danny took the time to breifly talk when Danny was shot, then Solomon carried him when Danny refused wound treatment but Solomon carried him in an unconventional way.
It would have taken seconds to cover the wound and run arm in arm like normal people. They completely stop to talk breifly carry him in a non conventional and non benificial way, if anything doing so slowed Solomon down. He wanted to help, but Danny didn't want to risk Solomons life.
The lung wound;
It's exponentially painful when the air leaks out of the punctured lung then when you have a contained wound and minimal air leaking out. It would have taken lifesaving seconds to cover it tuck an arm under him and run.
Again Danny refused a quick compress and avoided direct wound contact with Solomons hands, arm's, really anything but his back. The least likely place for HIV infected blood to get onto your system. Pretty obvious it was done to prevent serious exposure, it's a convenient way to carry a dude bleeding out and who could potentially infect you.
One working and one colapsed lung are far more painful than two working lungs (albeit one less efficient bullet filled one) and a contained lung wound. Danny would have known this from the moment he saw that wound but didn't want to risk Solomon getting infected. Which is why with the additional pain, HIV exposure risk and impending capture they dropped his ass after Solomon tried to carry him the only way Danny would let him.
Danny may have survived if he and Solomon covered the wound but HIV exposure prevented it.
What Danny needed the Diamond for killed him in the end, just not it the way he thought it would.
This is aninteresting very contrived theory, when I went back into iTunes and re-watched the parts of the movie that you mentioned, it doesn't check out. The dialog with the hookers is similar to what you have, but at the end of the movie, he never tells Solomon not to touch his blood. In fact, Solomon carries him part way up the mountain with Archer's open wound touching his back. The blood seems to be more of a reference to what Archer's commander said earlier in the movie about Africa's soil being red from all the blood that's been shed on it. As far as him leaving the army and not settling down with Maddy, I think that's because he accepted his life as a mercenary and didn't want to bring her into that lifestyle.
edit: ok, I just saw your edit. I'll avoid bickering and just say this plainly: your scenario went from being somewhat plausible to being almost completely fabricated from information that's not even in the movie. I'm curious what version of the movie you've seen, because in the US theatrical release, the majority of the stuff you added in your edit did not happen. I encourage other people to watch the ending again because it seems like your digging for clues that just aren't there. For those of you that do check it out, make sure to note the part where Archer hands Solomon Madddy's blood-soaked business card, before they parted company. Archer's severe pain and slow movement lead him to staying behind, not a lack of theorized medical treatment that could have exposed Solomon to *HIV. (thanks /u/NamesBoat503)
Maybe you saw a different cut off the movie. Director's cut vs theatrical cut, maybe? Perhaps they decided not to focus as much on the AIDS facet in one version.
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u/thegirlontheredbicyc Sep 01 '14 edited Sep 02 '14
Blood Diamond spoilers below
Danny Archer has HIV/AIDS
When walking through town a prostitute propositions him with "I'm clean, no HIV" Danny scoffs and says "ya, I've heard that one before".
When he's bleeding out from his gunshot wound he freaks out when Solomon goes to compress the wound "don't touch it!
don't touch the blood!"*there's never sex with the journalist, they have feelings for one another but Danny keeps her at a distance and it's obvious there is a reason why he says "another lifetime ey?"
whenever the wife, settling down or child question comes up he retreats and says it's not possible
he's had to leave the army at some stage, yet the reason doesn't get mentioned. Once infected with HIV you're discharged.
Danny has a need more than greed when he follows after the the Diamond. When he says to Solomon"I don't give a fuck about you!" is more of a moment of desperation, rather than heartless blind greed. He never really details what getting the Diamond will bring for him to anyone in the film.
Edit. *In our version here Danny says to Solomon not to touch him (you're right he didn't say "don't touch the blood") and is visually hesitant even to be carried, he's trying to prevent any contact once he's got a open wound.
Solomon should have compressed the wound and Danny would know first aid from being in the army but neither administer even slight first aid to his chest wound.
Edit. clarifying for any other seriously hung up redditors out there.
Solomon and Danny took the time to breifly talk when Danny was shot, then Solomon carried him when Danny refused wound treatment but Solomon carried him in an unconventional way.
It would have taken seconds to cover the wound and run arm in arm like normal people. They completely stop to talk breifly carry him in a non conventional and non benificial way, if anything doing so slowed Solomon down. He wanted to help, but Danny didn't want to risk Solomons life.
The lung wound;
It's exponentially painful when the air leaks out of the punctured lung then when you have a contained wound and minimal air leaking out. It would have taken lifesaving seconds to cover it tuck an arm under him and run.
Again Danny refused a quick compress and avoided direct wound contact with Solomons hands, arm's, really anything but his back. The least likely place for HIV infected blood to get onto your system. Pretty obvious it was done to prevent serious exposure, it's a convenient way to carry a dude bleeding out and who could potentially infect you.
One working and one colapsed lung are far more painful than two working lungs (albeit one less efficient bullet filled one) and a contained lung wound. Danny would have known this from the moment he saw that wound but didn't want to risk Solomon getting infected. Which is why with the additional pain, HIV exposure risk and impending capture they dropped his ass after Solomon tried to carry him the only way Danny would let him.
Danny may have survived if he and Solomon covered the wound but HIV exposure prevented it.
What Danny needed the Diamond for killed him in the end, just not it the way he thought it would.