My wife and I finally sat down to watch the DVD of Blood Diamond last night. Firstly,as supporters of SA actors, we were thrilled to see a few familiar faces alongside Leonardo. Unfamiliar to anyone outside SA, to be sure, but great exposure for them none the less. As far as Leo's acting went, we thought he got many of the mannerisms and inflections of a South African spot on. On review at the time of release many mistakenly thought he was doing an Afrikaner accent. He was in fact playing an English Rhodesian/South African. Want to get an idea of how I sound? Listen to him or the SA actors in Blood Diamond. He did a great job of getting the "Howzit china" and "lekker" down just right.

As for the content of the movie. Well, Africa is a violent continent. Fact. That many people from Europe and the US have for decades exploited her natural resources: fact. I am a white South African, yes. But I was born here, fourth generation of Scottish, Dutch, Jewish and English blood. I have never travelled off this continent. Hope to one day, but it may never happen. What does that make me? An AFRICAN. The scene where Di Caprio pours the red soil through his blood soaked hand.... I identify with that so strongly.

All in all, a good movie I thought. A little unfocused at times, not taking some things in the right direction enough for me, but a good movie. And most importantly to me, a pretty accurate portrayal all around.

One of the funniest things for me was the fact that Arnold Vosloo (Colonel Coetzee in the movie) has lived in the US for so long that he sounded less South African than Di Caprio did! (His Afrikaans is still intact though)