Review: Blood Diamond

‘Blood Diamond’ is not a light movie to be watched and then easily forgotten. The gripping atmosphere touches your mind and stays there for a few days.

The story takes place during the Sierra Leone civil war in the 1990s. The fisherman Solomon Vandy (Dijmon Hounsou) is walking through a village with his son Dia (Kagiso Kuypers), when it is raided by rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). The RUF kill and mutilate some villagers. Vandy’s wife and his daughter manage to escape, but his son gets kidnapped to be a child soldier. Solomon himself gets captured and forced to work on a diamond field near Kono. Just before government troops launch an attack, he finds a large diamond and buries it. The rebels and labourers get taken to prison in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital. There he meets the ex-mercenary Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), who now smuggles diamonds. They make an agreement that Archer has a share in the profits of the diamond if he helps Vandy to reunite his family. They break free from jail and with the help of the American journalist Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly), the exciting story takes its course.

‘Blood Diamond’ showed me a different world I didn’t know – and hopefully will never get to know first hand. If you see all the problems the people there have to deal with – trading of diamonds and weapons, war between rebels and government troops, corruption and child soldiers – you start to think about what you are complaining about. We should be thankful to be born in a peaceful part of the world. The actors play at their very best, the rather unknown Dijmon Hounsou and Jennifer Connely are not eclipsed by the powerful Leonardo DiCaprio.

This movie is stunning and far reaching, it’s about topics you normally don’t think about. It’s fascinating and terrifying. But besides the seriousness, the film is a great popcorn movie which offers some elements of dramatical action and also a bit of romance. This is all I need for a perfect movie I will definitely watch more than once.

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Favourite sport: waterskiing

My favourite sport is waterskiing. I did it in June at my best friend’s birthday and it was a lot of fun. We drove to Norderstedt, where there is a great new waterski facility. It doesn’t matter how old you are, my friend’s 11-year-old sister was nearly as good as her father. It was the first time for me but this is no problem if the instructors are good. You don’t have to buy waterski gear like the skis, a neoprene suit and a life jacket, because you can borrow it there. The only cost is the ticket. You can buy a day-ticket or, if you are really interested in becoming a good waterskier, a season-ticket. You can also book for a private event like we did for the birthday. So let’s be active in the summer and try waterskiing!