The Freediver

Chanced upon another fantastic movie on the Hallmark channel a few weeks back. “The Freediver”, is a movie of a tragic love story in the world of freediving, a form of extreme sports and the power of the human spirit. Set in Greece, a talented and determined young woman, Danai Varveri was persuaded by Hector, who later became her love interest, to undergo training in the BIOS institute on the Greek island of Spetses to break a FreeDiving World Record that was held by an egocentric American woman, Maggie. However, the doctor at the institute in charge of her training was like a mad scientist and pushed Danai to perform to her limits. He even hides her medical condition from her in order to enter her in the competition. Sadly, between fufiling her dream of being a world record breaker and Hector, her lover and mentor who worries about her health (Danai went into a coma once whilst she was training), she chose the former.

The climax of the film was the part where Danai and Maggie compete directly for the world championship. I was practically holding my breath when Danai sank into a coma again when she was making her way up to the surface. (Note: Spoiler ahead. Do not read beyond this line if planning to watch this movie on Hallmark :p) Miraculously, she gain consciousness in the nick of time and continued her ascent to the surface before she was disqualified by the safety/medical team. It was so touching and joyful when Hector dived into the water and hugged her when she was declared champion. It came as such a shock when suddenly Danai went limp in Hector’s arms and died. Reasons for her death were not given but I guess it might be due to her medical condition. She was able to persevere to the end due to her courage and determination to be nothing but the best. This movie got me thinking: the human spirit is indeed powerful. Nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it.

Before I watched this movie, I don’t have any idea what freediving is all about except that it is a form of extreme sport. Did some research on this interesting sport. Basically, it is spending time underwater without mechanical breathing apparatus. Freediving is not just a competitive sport, it is also for relaxation, underwater photography, sports like underwater hockey, synchronized swimming etc. However, the techniques of freediving have been developed long ago for the gathering of food such as spear fishing and military application. Here are a few links that can be further explored.

http://www.aida-international.org/ (International association for the Development of Freediving; look at the disciplines for the different competition categories, really interesting)

http://www.freedivers.net/

http://www.freedive.com.au/index2.html (the photo of the diver under the sting-ray is really cool!)