Catch a Fire is overly formulaic and doesn't have anything new to say about the apartheid. But it does look good and it's well acted and slickly directed. The film shares many plot similarities to other Joseph Campbell influenced narratives like the Star Wars movies or Braveheart. The film is set in South Africa in 1980. The film's reluctant hero is Patrick Chamusso who works as a foreman at the Secunda oil refinery. Patrick has a good life: he owns a car, has a beautiful wife and in his spare time, he coaches a local boys soccer team.
The freedom fighters / terrorists of the African National Congress (ANC) are fighting to overthrow South Africa's white-led government. As a black man Patrick suffers the occasional humiliation at the hands of the country's police but he doesn't complain or get involved in politics. The film doesn't dwell on the fact that Patrick is a refugee from the Mozambique civil war which ended in 1992, with over 900,000 dying from fighting and starvation.
In many Hollywood films white South Africans are often portrayed as evil and sadistic. Tim Robbins plays Nic Vos / Darth Vader a colonel in the country's anti-terrorism police. Vos is shown as a devoted husband and father but his job is to capture terrorists. After the ANC plants a bomb at the refinery, Patrick comes under suspicion and is arrested. Patrick is a womanizer and his initial alibi is exposed as a lie. He is beaten-up but when his wife is tortured he becomes angry and seeks revenge. Although found to be innocent and released, Patrick travels to Mozambique and joins an ANC terrorism school. He returns to South Africa and blows up the refinery. Patrick plays an unenthusiastic warrior who helps overthrow an evil regime. He is arrested again, and spends over ten years at the Robben Island prison with Nelson Mandela.
Most recent films about Africa paint it in a negative light. They show corrupt, genocidal hellholes, child soldiers, wide-scale barbarism, anarchy and starvation. What happened in South Africa now seems relatively low key by comparison. The film also fails to shock because TV shows like 24 seem to condone torture in terrorist interrogations. With the present day reality of prisons like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo the actions of Vos and his men seem almost tame. Overall, it's a well-made movie.
The freedom fighters / terrorists of the African National Congress (ANC) are fighting to overthrow South Africa's white-led government. As a black man Patrick suffers the occasional humiliation at the hands of the country's police but he doesn't complain or get involved in politics. The film doesn't dwell on the fact that Patrick is a refugee from the Mozambique civil war which ended in 1992, with over 900,000 dying from fighting and starvation.
In many Hollywood films white South Africans are often portrayed as evil and sadistic. Tim Robbins plays Nic Vos / Darth Vader a colonel in the country's anti-terrorism police. Vos is shown as a devoted husband and father but his job is to capture terrorists. After the ANC plants a bomb at the refinery, Patrick comes under suspicion and is arrested. Patrick is a womanizer and his initial alibi is exposed as a lie. He is beaten-up but when his wife is tortured he becomes angry and seeks revenge. Although found to be innocent and released, Patrick travels to Mozambique and joins an ANC terrorism school. He returns to South Africa and blows up the refinery. Patrick plays an unenthusiastic warrior who helps overthrow an evil regime. He is arrested again, and spends over ten years at the Robben Island prison with Nelson Mandela.
Most recent films about Africa paint it in a negative light. They show corrupt, genocidal hellholes, child soldiers, wide-scale barbarism, anarchy and starvation. What happened in South Africa now seems relatively low key by comparison. The film also fails to shock because TV shows like 24 seem to condone torture in terrorist interrogations. With the present day reality of prisons like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo the actions of Vos and his men seem almost tame. Overall, it's a well-made movie.