"Nothing Lasts Forever" is apt title for this short but interesting documentary on the diamond business, focusing on the diamond cartels and the rise of synthetic diamonds.

We follow a Serbian gemologist with 30 years of experience as he tells us about the production of synthetic diamonds in China. And about how the cartels, as they publicly deride the rise of synthetic diamonds, actually take advantage of them.

We hear from a diamond dealer, who, in trying to convince us how special and valuable real diamonds are, inadvertently tells us about how fabricated the value of real diamonds are - he admits the entire business is about selling a story, a lie.

We listen to an Indian jewelry designer who levels with us that diamonds are basically worthless and how an entire luxury market has been created by selling lies and catering to people's vanity. She's believable because that's her business.

The truth is that diamonds are not rare. Ms Aja Raden tells us there are enough supply to give every person on Earth (8 billion people) a 1/2 carat diamond ring with another 1/2 billion carat left over. It's a glut that keeps on growing.

Essentially, diamonds have value only because many people give it value. And so, like money, if you flood the market with "fakes" such synthetic diamonds, you reduce confidence and hence the overall value of the commodity.

At least that's what the cartels want you to believe. Aja Raden tells us the cartels are actually producing their own synthetic diamonds. Not to sell, but to undercut all other, smaller synthetic producers. The goal is to make "fake" diamonds uneconomical.

It's a two-prong strategy: 1) convince people that "real" diamonds have value, and 2) make sure that they control the production of "fake" diamonds by pricing others out. In the end, it's win-win for the cartels.

This is worth the 90 minutes runtime, which peels back the veneer of the diamond business - more accurately a cartel. Anyone who is skeptical of large corporations was probably already skeptical of the myriad ad campaigns surrounding the diamond industry. And while the documentary seems to focus more on engagement rings, the whole industry seems tainted.

Two people interviewed stand out in this documentary. First is jewelry designer Aja Raden, who is not shy about ripping the lid off the rather secretive diamond cartel, especially De Beers. Raden paints De Beers as a monopolistic organization that controls the supply - and therefore pricing - of a significant percentage of the world's gemstones. And when it is uncovered that some - or maybe a lot - of diamonds on the market may actually be synthetic (not natural), DeBeers comes off almost like a criminal organization. If they know about the synthetic diamonds (those that are "grown" in a lab), which are much less valuable than natural diamonds, then they are operating a fraudulent business. But De Beers will never admit that. Instead, they will continue to try to convince you that an engagement ring is worth the 2 months salary (or maybe 3 to 4 months) that the price commands. Who else does that?

The other interviewee is Martin Rapaport, an industry insider (CEO of Rapaport Group) and easily the ***worst*** salesman on why we should buy diamonds. His arguments are old-school misogyny, mainly focused on diamond engagement rings and how they make "women feel valued." His opinions totally ignore other retail channels for diamond, including earrings, bracelets, necklaces, watches, etc. And eh remains completely dismissive of synthetic diamonds, which obviously threaten his bottomline. Instead of finding a way to help the industry pivot, he remains an obstructionist.

Even De Beers only recently began selling their own line of synthetic diamonds, but still disses their worth. Not unlike the Koch Brothers or ExxonMobil dissing electric cars.

So why not 10 stars? The documentary ends on an unresolved note regarding a gemologist attempting to create the "perfect synthetic", something that no "expert" will ever be able to detect (despite millions of synthetics already in the market and undetected by these same "experts"). I wish the documentary had reached a more concrete conclusion.

Diamonds are Forever. Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend. Blah blah blah.

People have been spoon fed this kinda nonsense since before the world wars, but this documentary paints the picture that its only been in roughly the last 100 years that people have believed that a diamond ring is a MUST in order for love to exist.

Think about all the times a person grew up, fell in love, got married, had kids, "settled down" and their life just was fullfilled. Yet at any point in those same lives and the lives of just about anyone and EVERYONE you or I have known thats been married or engaged, the question of if and when a diamond ring is gonna be brought to the table is never far from the lips of somebody in the mix. Going back even to some peoples grandparents and great grand parents proposing nad tying the knot, since roughly after the First World War, people in the west have been sold, brainwashed, and lied to about the necessity of having a diamond ring in order to show ones love to a potential future spouse and mate.

The film also suggests that the notion of romantic love is also relatively new, having only existed for 150 years. That pat I find quesitonable given the fact that humans have just about always had the same emotional capacity as we have now. Yet even thousands of years ago, there were traditions to endear a man to a woman and her family if he wanted to marry her. Love always comes first, but the real issue is that so long as society has existed, there have been people that have said that love is not enough, and that loyalty and fidelity and support of your spouse and the children yall will have is not enough...So what else ya got? But who is at fault? Even throughout all the ages and eras of courtship around the world, and even with certain animals in the wild, the male has to do more than show off or be good at the courtship ritual. They have to at times provide a shiny pebble, or bauble, or something extra.

But we are not just base animals, right? Surely the even if nature makes lower creatures go through the ringer like that, it cannot be the same for what men are put through for women, right? So who is at fault?

This film literally points the finger and has testimonials form people within the industry and gives brief timelines, first hand accounts and drops truth bombs about how foolish our notions of value placed upon objects really is. And it makes sense. Love should always be primary. Thats the key that unlocks the door. Its the fuel for the fire of true romance. Anything that is gold or silver or diamond should not even be second, it should be tertiary (third) at best. And even though synthetic diamonds have been made since the late 1940s apparently, and theres literal impact craters in Russia and countless veins that lead to tons of diamonds found, people fuss over whether something is natural or man made?

This is a very straight forward and to the point documentary about all that and a bit more. And folks, really take this stuff to heart, because nobody should have to prove their love by spending tens of thousands on a hunk of rock or metal. Open thine eyes people, and find real romance. TRY!

Otherwise, just go marry some inanimate object if its so much more important than true affection from another human being; theres way too many folks already "shacking up" with "adult toys" in place of actual relationships, which says alot about a deeper problem thats been developing for many years in our species: Lack of Reasoning. Be well yall.