Customer Reviews

Catch a Fire

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I had high hopes for this film; I mean I really wanted it to blow my mind. I'm a huge fan of Derek Luke and feel that he is a truly gifted actor, but despite his terrific performance this movie to me really failed to elevate past mundane popcorn fluff. I wasn't struck as I feel I could have or should have been beings the subject matter the movie embraces. I don't know if I'm alone in feeling that the movie came off a bit `made-for-TV' or `straight-to-video'. That was just my opinion I guess.

The acting was top notch, especially on the part of the two male leads. Derek Luke gives so much humanity to Patrick that you're rooting for him 100%, but to me it was Tim Robbins who stole my attention. He did such a brilliant job of making Nic Vos seem almost caring and concerned. He did so well at this that at the end, when the real Patrick Chamusso is talking about Vos being a monster I found myself thinking "was he really that bad?"...yes he was, and Tim Robbins is really that good for making me doubt it.

Another nod should go to Bonnie Mbuli for playing Derek's beautiful and distressed wife Precious. I mention beautiful because this young actress is undeniably stunning. She gave so much heart to her character that she remains the most memorable portion of the film to me.

I'm not saying that this film was a waste of time, far from it. I exposed the horrors of the apartheid in South Africa, but it just failed to deliver what it could and should have. The acting was brilliant but I guess that blame should then fall on the writers and even the director for not channeling the brilliance of the cast and developing a stronger film. It's sad because a film that could have dominated the awards season will, I fear, be soon forgotten.

South Africa, 1980.

Patrick (Derek Luke, "Antwone Fisher ", "Glory Road"), a young father with a wife and two children, lives in a small house with his mother. He is very happy and has a good job as a foreman at a local refinery. In his off hours, he coaches a ragtag group of children in football. One day, traveling back from a wedding, they are stopped and questioned regarding an explosion at some railroad tracks. Patrick wants nothing to do with politics, because he knows it will jeopardize his family and his job. Later, Patrick takes his football team to a match and they win, so he stays over with them to compete in the finals. That evening, another explosion occurs at the plant where he works. Nic Voss (Tim Robbins), the head of the anti-terrorist team, brings him in for questioning. The same evening, Patrick visits an old girlfriend and his illegitimate son, and then lies about it, making him a suspect. Unable to get anywhere, Voss and his team take Patrick's wife in and torture her as well. Then Patrick confesses, but Nick knows he isn't telling the truth and lets him go. Fed up, Patrick decides to join the ANC, the African National Congress, and travels to Mozambique to begin training. Voss is determined to squash this group and soon learns that Patrick has joined up.

"Catch a Fire", directed by Phillip Noyce ("Clear and Present Danger") is a very good film about the life of a real figure in the struggle for South Africa's independence from Apartheid.

Derek Luke is very, very good as Patrick Chamusso. Patrick is so intent on living his life with his family, trying to provide for them, make sure they are happy, that he doesn't pay attention to politics. He knows that if he is even suspected of participating in any political movement he could lose his job, his house and his family would have to struggle. He is very happy where he is in life. He has a job as a foreman at Secunda, a local refinery, which provides a house and a car for his family. He has everything he could want.

After attending a family wedding where he and his wife danced a lot, they are stopped at a roadblock and interrogated. The police throw Patrick to the ground in front of his wife, Precious, and their kids. A bomb was set off at a nearby railway station, so everyone is stopped. Naturally, because Patrick has a car and a nice camera, he is under suspicion. When they are eventually let go, Patrick doesn't think twice about it. He gets mad at his mother for listening to the political broadcasts on the radio. He wants to stay free and clear.

Then the football team he is coaching travels to a match and wins, prompting an overnight stay so they can play in the finals the next day. During that night, Patrick travels back to his home village and visits an old mistress and his illegitimate son. He speeds back in time to pick up the boys.

But during that evening, another explosion occurs and Patrick falls under suspicion because he lies about his whereabouts.

Luke brings a sense of happiness and complacency to the character. He is perfectly happy with his place in life; he doesn't want to make waves, even though the government can stop him and throw him to the ground for no reason. The fact that he has a mistress and an illegitimate child adds another level to his character. He seems so in love with Precious, yet she has a definite jealous edge to her. Then we learn Precious knows about the mistress, which explains her jealousy, but she doesn't learn of the child until much later, which colors her actions towards her husband.

Then, when Nic Vos (Robbins), the head of the Government's anti-terrorist unit takes him in for interrogation, everything changes. He doesn't know anything. Yet, they interrogate him and torture him. When he still won't make a statement, they leave him in his cell for a period of time. When they take him out, blindfolded, he is greeted by a surprise that changes his world. He is released, but he is no longer the wide eyed innocent he once was. He now realizes that nothing will get better until the people make it better.

Throughout all of this, Luke brings honesty to the role. Even when he is extolling the virtues of the current way of life, you can see a little doubt in his eyes. Then, when he changes, it is an abrupt change, but it works, because we have lived with him for a while now and feel like we know him. Bonnie Henna is also very good as Precious, Patrick's wife. From the moment we first meet them, we see how happy they are together. Then, when Patrick starts dancing with another woman, she sidles up to them and hits him on the head. Enough said. Later, after she is interrogated by Vos and his team, she has a dead look in her eyes and we know she will never be the same again.

Tim Robbins' performance is the most difficult to assimilate into our brains. At one point, Vos states "We are the minority, 3 million trying to control 25 million." The very fact the Boers thought this was an okay thing is mind boggling. They live in this country, using different bathrooms, facilities, keeping the native Blacks out of their sight. It sounds much like America during the 50s and 60s, but this story takes place in 1980. Their method of control was to create Apartheid.

Robbins' performance is very understated and initially seems a little strange. Vos is in charge, and does everything within his control to help the Boers maintain their lifestyle. Robbins is very convincing in his portrayal of this. Vos is never in doubt that the Boers should be in control and this makes him and the other members of the ruling class naturally frightening.

There are at least two scenes in which Vos and his family are enjoying a picnic among other white people. Vos pulls out a guitar and starts singing folk songs. This seems like a really overt attempt to make Vos seem sympathetic. Look at the man singing folk songs to his wife and children. How bad could he be? But I'm not sure this is the intended message. As he sings, he also reinforces how completely sure he is, and his people are, of their right to rule this country. Making him all the more menacing.

As his performance continued, I realized how menacing he is. His work brought to mind Kenneth Branagh's performance in "Rabbit Proof Fence". In each, the men are truly scary because they are so soft spoken. They are each truly convinced they are right and they should be doing what they are doing which makes them even more scary.

Robbins' performance is not as good as Branagh's; there aren't enough layers, but it is reminiscent.

"Catch A Fire" also raises a lot of questions similar to what we are currently dealing with. The actions of Vos and his men ultimately cause Patrick to turn to the path of becoming a revolutionary. Before this moment, he had no feelings for this and didn't want to jeopardize anything. But because Vos and his men treated Patrick like a piece of trash, they convinced him that his people have to do something to end the oppression. Many believe a similar situation is happening in the Middle East; the current actions of the United States are creating a new breed of terrorists.

"Catch A Fire" is an interesting, well done portrait of an instrumental figure in the fight to end Apartheid.

Catch a Fire centers around the true story of Patrick Chamusso, a South African man who works as a plant foreman and quietly keeps to his family and to himself, not getting involved in the protests and demonstrations against apartheid. But when a terrorist attack effects the plant where he works and he and his wife are brought in and tortured to get information, he realizes that there is no way of simply avoiding confrontation and joins a terrorist group.

What's interesting about the film is how it presents two sides of the story, although, admittedly Chamusso is the central character. Tim Robbins plays Nic Vos, an anti-terrorist authority figure. We see Vos with his family and Robbins almost brings a sense of humanity to the character that makes you really see a man trapped in a point-of-view that he can't escape, and committing terrible acts because of this.

Derek Luke does a tremendous job as Chamusso and throughout the film his intensity is contagious, adding more and more levels to the film, while Robbins' intensity meter matches Luke scene for scene. These two actors really carry the film, although the story is moving and the supporting cast definitely keep up.

Catch a Fire is extremely relevant in a time when the United States is especially concerning itself with terrorism and trying to uncover terrorist cells. Seeing a film that presents the terrorist and the terrorist-hunter both as three-dimensional human characters really helps reminds us that this is not necessarily a black and white battle.

What is especially great about the film, is the very last scene, in which it starts out as Derek Luke as Patrick Chamusso, and finishes with the real-life Chamusso speaking. This is extremely effective in driving the point home that these events really occurred and that there are people out there who strive to make a difference in their environment.

After reading some of the other reviews I understand why most are saying something was missing from this film. It does does not have your typical movie characters. The people in this movie are complex and imperfect like people in real life. Derek Luke's character is beat, falsely imprisoned and has his family taken away from him. Now in your typical hollywood film he would join with a revolutionary army get trained come back and in a huge battle scene end up coming face to face with Tim Robbins character (who is the main bad guy) and kill him, credits roll and crowd cheers. This movie to its credit is much more intelligent than that. Things like that don't happen in real life. Bravo to the people who made this film. Thank You for making a different film with a powerful message.

CATCH A FIRE is a very entertaining and instructive film about the 1980s South African problem with Apartheid - a time when the minority white population had political control over the far larger populace of blacks. It is based on a true story of one Patrick Chamusso, a fine working man not affiliated with the growing number of terrorists fighting to unite the black citizens to overthrow the Boers who is driven to alter his life to join the militant party of the African National Congress when he has personal experiences of abuse by the controlling whites.

Patrick Chamusso (a fine Derek Luke) supports his wife Precious (Bonnie Mbuli Henna) and two daughters as a foreman at the oil plant. Though the plant is under investigation for terroristacts Chamusso remains adamantely a pacificist. Yet when the conflicted Boer policeman Nic Vos (Tim Robbins) begins to bear down on Chamusso as suspect in a fire explosion at his plant, Chamusso's alibi conceals the fact that while away coaching the plant's boys' soccer team he steals away to see his illegitimate son and ex-girlfriend and this bit of secrecy to protect his wife's feelings causes the explosion with Vos that confines him to jail.

Chamusso joins the military branch of the ANC, trains with them, is captured, abused, imprisoned and finally released with the rise of Nelson Mandela. How all of the progress of the story takes place is the pleasure of the fine script by Shawn Slovo and the direction of Phillip Noyce (The Quiet American, Rabbit-Proof Fence, The Bone Collector, Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games etc) who knows how to move these movies along. The cast is excellent, the sense of place (the film was filmed entirely on location) and the production aspects are all superb. The only problem with the film is the 'sell-out' at the end when suddenly we are watching bits and pieces of filmed history and voice over content that seems to diminish the emotional impact of the film. Still, for another opportunity to understand Apartheid and the great country of South Africa, this film is very much worth watching. And Derek Luke, Bonnie Henna and Tim Robbins offer excellent acting skills. Grady Harp, February 07

After watching many mediocre Oscar wannabe movies in 2006, we finally came across an excellent film that has history, drama, profound emotions, and superb acting. All these combined with an excellent award worthy cinematography. "Catch a Fire" is the drama we recommend.

Story:
The story takes place in 1980 during the Apartheid-era in South Africa. Patrick Chamusso (Derek Luke) lives with his wife and 2 daughters in a slum near an oil refinery where he works. He also coaches soccer to children in his community. Living his life away from politics seems to be going well for Patrick, but that's about to change. An explosion in the oil refinery spawns a terrorist investigation. The government is certain that it was a terrorist act by the ANC--which is an opposition political party--and they have to do whatever it takes to stop them. Government agents led by Nic Vos (Tim Robbins) wrongly accused Patrick of terrorism. He is taken into custody. He is tortured for many days, but he is not the only one. Patrick's wife is also a victim of this kind of abuse. Once released, he thinks about the injustice and the suffering of his people created by his own government. Now, there is nothing more than revenge in his heart. He leaves his family and joins the ANC to carry more terrorist acts. Will he be able to reconsider? What will he do next?

Review:
The movie takes us to a difficult time in the history of South Africa. There is a feeling of unrest and paranoia between the characters; we see who they struggle during those hard political times. "Catch a fire" creates drama because both sides fight for what they believe is right, but obviously the movie takes Patrick's side. In other words, the film tells its point of view right away by showing who are the good guys and the bad guys. Patrick is pictured here as another victim of the "white evil" government. We would have loved to see more of the "bad guys' side" to create some balance in the movie.

The acting is superb and Oscar worthy, especially by Derek Luke who did an excellent job as Patrick Chamusso. His character is very emotional and believable. We wouldn't be surprise if he gets nominated to an Oscar for that role. We would like to mention Tim Robbins for his role as supporting actor. His character shows everyone that he is cold blooded.

Director Phillip Noyce ('Clear and Present Danger', 'The Quite American') has a skillful eye for filmmaking. He is another star in the film by creating--in our opinion--the best cinematography of 2006. The film has great locations, the camera work gives you sometimes the "documentary like" look especially in the action scenes, and the night shots are beautifully crafted.

The Verdict:
1980 was not a good year for Patrick Chamusso, neither for his country. "Catch a Fire" is the film that takes us back in time. We see through the eyes of the people who suffered that tough political era. We recommend it.

Phillip Noyce, the director of "Catch a Fire" seems to be developing a habit of making films about the issues of indigenous peoples. His last two films, "The Quiet American" and "Rabbit Proof Fence" deal with such issues in Vietnam and Australia respectively. They both explore how local people deal with relative newcomers. He continues this tradition with "Catch a Fire" which deals with racial matters in apartheid South Africa in the 1980s.

A brief synopsis of the film would be that it shows how a previously non partisan was driven by politics to take extreme measures. In particular, we see the life of Patrick Chamusso played by Derek Luke and how he is forced to deal with a remorseless anti-terrorist Boer policeman played by Timothy Bottoms. The film is a character study of these two determined men.

If I had to find a weakness in the film it would be that the plot is too formulaic. We see good versus bad with a predictable ending where good ultimately prevails. The viewer is not asked to think too hard. Outcomes are much as expected.

The acting by all major payers is excellent. It is wryly amusing to see the political man, Timothy Bottoms, play the right wing Boer. Yet he plays the part well. It is a pity that the cast and the majestic South African setting do not match the plot.

"My children, when they speak of their father, they will say he was a man who stood up for what was right, a man who said he must do something now. What will your children say about you?"

Cast largely with unknowns with the exception of Tim Robbins and Derek Luke (Antwone Fisher), "Catch A Fire" is a fascinating film based on even more fascinating true events. The film tells the story of a little known South African named Patrick Chamusso, a man who became a political activist and a criminal only after he was wrongly accused of a crime. When the Sasol oil refinery at Secunda is bombed in 1980, an intense investigation is launched by an anti-terrorist organization headed by Nic Vos (Robbins). Vos and his team of investigators seize Patrick and other Secunda employees from their homes, coercing them to confessions by using excruciating forms of torture. When Patrick cannot establish a rock solid alibi due to his reluctance to reveal his infidelity (something his wife Precious has long suspected), Vos begins to kill him with kindness, sitting him down at his dinner table with his own family, a grim reminder for Patrick that Precious and their daughters are without the stability of his income.

When Patrick still cannot confirm his whereabouts the day of the bombing, Vos uses a technique that has Chamusso surrendering to his will, only to be vindicated after lying again to save his family. Once he is released, the brutal elements of his brief captivity catapult him into the strong-armed Umkhonto we Sizwe, a militant branch of the African National Congress. Long chiding his mother-in-law for lending an ear to ANC's radio programs, he is now a listener himself as well as an elite member who comes to be known by the codename of "Hot Stuff". Angered by the constant death and oppression of his native people, Chamusso instigates another bombing at Secunda, one that he hopes will pillage the inexcusable hostilities of apartheid through the destruction of its industrial livelihood.

I consider it a personal accomplishment on Philip Noyce's (Clear and Present Danger, The Bone Collector) part when I watched this film and paid little heed to the actors because the story is the fundamental centerpiece. What you get as far as acting, however, is outstanding. Luke showcases exactly why he is a rising talent with his moving portrayal of Patrick Chamusso, a man torn by his heart's convictions and his love for his family. Luke was fortunate enough to be able to sit down with the real Patrick and the two of them even enjoyed a light game of football (soccer), which is shown among an interview with Patrick immediately before the end credits. Robbins does an admirable South African accent and is cool and calculating as Nic Vos, his discerning cold blue eyes making the viewer feel intimidated. He does manage to incur a small amount of sympathy when his family becomes a target for his threat to the anti-apartheid movement.

Something else I appreciate from Noyce is his goal to procure the truth of these insidious events in South African history. Though the ANC opposed and voraciously fought the restrictions and totalitarianism of the apartheid system, they were still labeled a terrorist organization by the US and the UK, an idea that only served to prove that the majority of Americans were too busy with the convenience and comfort of their own lives to take their heads out of the sand and discover the truth. The movie also serves to illustrate how powerful an idea can become when individuals are pushed to the brink.

"Catch A Fire" also contains many rousing African songs with beautiful vocal harmony but the majority of the words belie the joyousness of the singing and only serve to remind of the struggle that South Africa's people endured for years on end.

Bottom line: If you sway towards films based on true events that seek to pour light upon the truth rather than bury it with dramatic license and overpaid actors, then "Catch A Fire" is a film you must consider, as well as the moving story of Paul Rusesabagina in 2004's critically-acclaimed "Hotel Rwanda".

No one could have done it better than Phillip Noyce. He is the perfect director for "Catch a Fire," a filmmaker with a knack for creating suspense and tension. The story is based on the actual events of a man's rise against apartheid in South Africa during the early 80's, and Noyce brings the realism, intensity, and emotion needed to effectively portray the conflict. Many filmmakers are using past events or even concocting fictitious scenarios to make sharp political statements with their art. Spielberg used the "Munich" massacre to comment on the continuous and circular nature of terrorism in his most daring and ambitious work. The Wachowski Brothers expressed their feelings about our administration by adapting "V For Vendetta" into an aggressive Bush parable and cautionary tale. Political ideals are showing up in several works, from art films to mainstream Hollywood escapist entertainment.

Instead of using the topic of apartheid in South Africa to preach some grand political message about freedom fighters and terrorists, Noyce keeps things straightforward and lean, examining the emotional conflict of the main character. Because of this, "Catch a Fire" strikes a powerful chord, turning what could of been a routine historical drama into a compelling tale of freedom and revolution.

Patrick Chamusso (Luke) is a simple man living in South Africa, working as a foreman at an oil refinery and raising his children with his beautiful wife, Precious (Bonnie Henna). He spends his time with his family and the soccer team he coaches, paying little to no attention to the political uproar surrounding him. Patrick wants no concerns or problems, just a happy and easy life. This, of course, doesn't last very long. His outlook on politics is changed forever after an explosion at the refinery. Nic Voss (Tim Robbins), a member of an anti-terrorism unit, wrongfully arrests Patrick and eventually his wife, torturing them for answers. The treatment is cruel and unnecessary. Voss releases them once he figures out Patrick is clearly innocent, but the incident is too horrible and evil for Patrick to leave behind. He immediately joins the ANC and trains to become a freedom fighter that will help liberate his people.

It takes some time for "Catch a Fire" to get going, but once Patrick realizes what he has to do, the film becomes a suspenseful account of a man standing up for what he believes. You can't help but become invested in his fight for justice. Noyce directs the last half of the film with urgency, maintaining a humanity and realism of great emotional resonance. Because you're invested in the characters, the political themes are effective. "Catch a Fire" is gripping and moving, one of Phillip Noyce's finest achievements.

Why wasn't this movie more heavily promoted in theaters? Why did I have such a hard time finding somewhere to buy it? This is a wonderful movie, and should be seen by many more people. Great acting, great story with a fantastic ending. BUY IT!