Left the office at 5:20 ish but realised pretty quickly that we weren’t going to get to the station on time due to the excess traffic caused by a show going on at the NEC. So Amanda and I decided to walk to the station, and we made it in just under half an hour. When Amanda realised she wasn’t going to be make it on time for her Kung fu class she suggested watching a movie – Blood Diamond. I normally hate anything with Leonardo Di Caprio in it – I’m the guy who cheered in a packed cinema when he drowned at the end of Titanic :p

Image source Wikipedia

The film is set against the backdrop of the civil war in Sierra Leone in the late 1990s, it follows former mercenary Danny Archer’s efforts to recover a rare pink diamond. The only man who knows the whereabouts of the priceless jewel is fisherman Solomon Vandy, and Archer is forced to help him find his family before he will lead him to the spoils of war

Vandy is played by Djimon Hounsou who gives an excellent performance. Infuriatingly I have to admit Di Caprio was also exceptional in the movie. It’s a very grim tale, and the film is quite grisly in parts as you might expect given the story is set against the back drop of the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone.

Its a great movie, the cinematography is exceptional, the locations in Africa were beautifully filmed. The scenes in South Africa brought back some wonderful and even painful memories for me, there’s a part of me that will always believe there’s a big part of me still there, I loved all the time I spent in Cape Town … sometimes I wish … never mind … if wishes were horses beggars would ride!

Anyway go watch the movie, its excellent – great pick Amanda!.