I was scuba certified in 1990, and saw "The Big Blue" (North American version) in 1992. The movie affected me so deeply I couldn't begin to explain it. Like Anderson, there were some strong similarities to my own life that made it dificult to keep a dry eye. I own the director's cut now, and still can't watch it on the wrong day:waterwork .
I upgraded my training in scuba every few years up to Instructor and some technical specialties. Working in a dive shop for a year helped me get lots of gear and experience, plus a link to a full time job on a liveaboard dive boat on the west coast of Canada : The Nautilus VII. During this time I became more and more interested in pursuing freediving. I had never really considered it as a viable hobby in cold-water Canada, but I figured I would try. I knew nothing about it and had never heard any advice, so I started by putting 30 lbs of lead on over my crushed neoprene drysuit, with scuba fins and a regular mask. Let me tell you that when hat drysuit compressed, I would sink FAST! Diving to 10 metres set my lungs on fire usually, and it took me a while to get some depth and comfort happening. Eventually I moved back to Alberta, and got a wetsuit, Cressi Garas, and a Dacor Bandit mask. At this point I started selling all my scuba gear. I also discovered the internet, and started to find good info, including Eric Fattah's descriptions of his competitive experiences in Canada and Europe. This info helped me a great deal, and my diving improved substantially.
Through Deeper Blue, I hooked up with some Canadian freedivers and took a Kirk Krack clinic, which gave me a lot of confidence in myself, setting my PB of 42 metres and 6:10 static.
I joined CAFA, went to my first competition, blacked out coming back from 46 metres, but tied Eric's Canadian static record of 5:41.
So it took more than one incident to convert me, I think if i lived somewhere warm I would have started a lot sooner.
Cheers,
Erik Young