[I must tell you that I have watched most of the movie, Blood Diamond, and I love it to bits.

The first Rhodesian to draw my attention to it was Dr Peter Hammond of the Frontline Fellowship. He said to me it is a MUST SEE movie. He said that given the normal pro-left political claptrap that comes out of Hollywood – this movie is DIFFERENT and much closer to the truth.

In the movie they portray the South Africans (Afrikaners) rather negatively still, and Dr Hammond said that he did not agree for example with them pretending that the whites from S.Africa were fighting in Angola to enrich themselves. He said he knew Afrikaner officers who were in 32 Battalion and none of them were like the way they were portrayed in the movie. They were men of high standing and character and they were definitely for the conservation of wildlife rather than exploiting it.

I saw the piece of the movie he was referring to, where DiCaprio says this about Angola, “we thought we were fighting communism but…” – and he goes on to say that we were really fighting for what we could get out of it – ivory, diamonds, etc. This is total nonsense. This does not stand up to the actual military history of the Angolan conflict.

But I felt that the above, was the only real BIG LIE I heard in the movie. Other than that, the movie was not bad.

Robb Ellis had these comments: “Glad that you enjoyed ‘Blood Diamond’ – I thought it was a great story, and I thought that DiCaprio did well with the accent. There was an article on the internet (which I blogged) that reported that he spent some weeks with ‘Rhodesian’ mercenaries in order to learn the accent and the thinking…”

His accent was not bad. It was a bit of a Rhodesian/South African mix, but not bad at all. I actually could not believe it when I first heard his accent.

They did throw enough comments into the story which I thought definitely reflected reality.

I have been so disillusioned with movies in recent years that I don’t even watch a movie even when it sounds good. I need lots of personal recommendations before I bother.

I was disgusted with supposed historical movies which turned out to be highly edited “Politically Correct” and which even had history perverted and twisted out of context. Movies like Alexander and Arthur put me off completely. They totally ruined things for me.

But I did love THE LORD OF WAR. That came out 2 years ago, and it was also about Africa and gun running and the wars here – and I loved it to bits. What a fabulous movie, and the first movie I’ve seen which starts portraying Africa as it really is.

But now I’ll say Blood Diamonds is even better than the Lord of War (though the Lord of War is a MUST SEE… incredibly well done). The first few minutes are unreal… you have to see it to believe it.

DiCaprio makes quite a few statements which correctly or closely reflect some of the feelings we whites in Africa do have. This is the first time I’ve seen an honest portrayal of the way we feel.

I also thoroughly enjoyed them showing what blacks do to blacks in Africa. In Sierra Leone there was a black Marxist/Communist Liberation Movement who did indeed recruit child soldiers and did indeed run around chopping people’s arms off. I have some documentary footage of it which I’ve not yet had the chance to put on my website. The background is thus very real.

I loved the battle scenes… and I loved them because it showed blacks mowing down other blacks which is the reality of post-colonial Africa. The “oppression” of blacks by whites is MINOR compared to what blacks do to each other and both these movies portray that accurately.

I felt the Afrikaners/South Africans got a bit of a raw deal in the movie, but even so, it was not too bad.

What I loved, and I couldn’t believe when it came out of DiCaprio’s mouth, was when he spoke about South Africa, 1994, “truth and reconciliation” and all that “hogwash” (not sure the exact words he used). I couldn’t believe I saw it in a modern film – but there it was… just saying that the rise of the ANC and its election in 1994 was a load of bull! Beautiful! I said the same thing in my book!

I liked also the way he mocked the American journalist saying, “you come here with your laptops… but you won’t change Africa” and also the discussion with the South Africans where they both agreed, “Africa is our home”.

It was pretty damned good and something truly refreshing from Hollywood for a change.

I am delighted to hear that he’s going to be nominated for a Golden Globe award. I think he did an absolutely marvellous job.

Can you believe it – I’m finally praising something that comes out of Hollywood! I never thought I’d see such a day. So there you have it from 3 Rhodesians: Dr Peter Hammond, Robb Ellis and myself, that Blood Diamond totally ROCKS as a movie. If you’ve lived in Africa you’ll see a reflection of the Africa you came to know!

At the moment I believe there is another pro-ANC movie out where the hero is a black guy fighting Apartheid. I won’t be watching that one! I’m not interested in pro-ANC propaganda in movies. The ANC has got a lot of mileage out of Hollywood over the years, portraying Africa the way they want people overseas to imagine it to be – which is a far cry from the reality of the place.

I think these new movies with their more realistic angles on Africa could be an excellent thing. 99% of moviegoers around the world know ZILCH about Africa. There is so much history here, and so many untold stories… I wish more of our past wars and stories could make it into Hollywood movies.

Its too bad nobody has made a decent movie about the Anglo-Boer war, or something else from our past. There is a lot of excellent military/action material out there. I really hope that we will see more movies done like this, where the white man is not always cast as a damned NAZI.

The reality in Africa is very different to the ANC’s propaganda, and one day, people will realise that even Apartheid was misrepresented. By the way, that reminds me, DiCaprio mentioned 32 battalion and that whites and blacks fought side by side there – which is of course true – as it was of much of the Rhodesian army.

Even under Apartheid, when I spent my short stint in the S.African Navy, we were trained in Saldhana and whites and coloureds lived, ate and trained in the same camp. Apartheid was not always close to the monstrosity which the ANC would like to have everyone believe.

If nothing else, I hope Blood Diamond stimulates an interest in Africa the way it really is. Jan]