The film covers the life of Patrick Chamusso, a South African freedom fighter who spent many years imprisoned in the same island prison with Nelson Mandela.
When the movie starts, Patrick (Derek Luke) is a pretty successful young man. He is a foreman at the massive Secunda oil refinery. He has a beautiful wife Precious (Bonnie Henna) and two kids. In his spare time he coaches a kids' soccer team. Life would be pretty good if he wasn't also black and living in South Africa during apartheid. So, despite his decent standing, he can be treated like a criminal at a roadside checkpoint for absolutely no reason at all. Patrick is studiously unpolitical. He has found success by keeping his head down and staying out of politics. While his friends and coworkers voice their displeasures with the system and get branded as troublemakers, Patrick does his best to ignore all of it and try to forge a better life. Sadly his ostrich approach to life doesn't ultimately do him any good. He takes a trip with his soccer team to the playoffs. While gone there is an explosion at Secunda. Upon his return Patrick and several neighbors are arrested for supposedly taking part in the bombing. This brings Colonel Nick Vos (Tim Robbins) of the government's anti-terrorism unit into the picture. Vos is not what you would call the warm and fuzzy sort. He is willing to do just about anything in his investigations. Patrick suffers through a brutal interrogation as Vos quickly finds a whole in Patrick's alibi, one that Patrick is unwilling to close for personal reasons. Unable to resolve the situation, Vos ups the ante and arrests Precious and gives her the same kind of abusive treatment. The couple is eventually released but the incident shatters Patrick's world view. He immediately leaves his family to join the outlawed African National Council to fight against apartheid. This culminates with Patrick's attempt to blow up the very same power plant he used to work in. You can't beat the team behind this movie for adding authenticity to the movie. Not only did the real Patrick visit the set repeatedly but screenwriter Shawn Slovo and producer Robyn Slovo are the children of Joe Slovo, the head of the ANC's military arm and the man who trained Patrick. Furthermore, the movie was shot at the actual locations, including the plant, where the events took place. Derek Luke is uniformly excellent as the charismatic Patrick. He has great intensity when Patrick becomes radicalized but effortlessly pulls off the smaller moments in life. He handles the character's home life so well that he makes Patrick endlessly likable, even when making questionable choices in life. Tim Robbins does a nice job as well. Vos could easily be portrayed as a mindless thug, bent on raining pain on any who oppose him. But instead they make him a more balanced figure. He's certainly a brute when on the hunt for a terrorist but he doesn't seem to do it out of any malice or hatred, instead simply focused on doing his job well. It makes him a far more interesting character than if he had been played simply as evil. The biggest problem with the film is a somewhat awkward story structure. Patrick's attempt to sabotage the plant could make for an exciting climax to a film, except it is not the end of Patrick's story. After that attack, the film buzzes through the next fifteen or so of his life as he goes to prison, is released and starts trying to reconcile his life. It's the difference between quickly popping a balloon or giving it a tiny pinhole leak and letting all the air slowly leak out of it. Viewers will probably find it impossible not to spot corollaries between this film and current events. The behavior of the South African government was textbook for developing new terrorists. Unfairly imprison, torture and restrict the rights of people and then stand back and watch as they become violent radical extremists. Rinse, lather, repeat. It would be ham fisted and insincere to suggest that apartheid and the current American government are on the same level but it probably wouldn't be too out of line to suggest that the two reflected specific points on opposing ends of a path to destroying human rights. It will be interesting to see what, if any, controversy this movie can stir up on that issue. Catch a Fire is a gorgeously shot movie that manages to operate smoothly as thriller, drama and action film while still managing to lay down some heartfelt political message. - John Shea
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