Review: Catch A Fire

The One That Got Away
Catch A Fire (2006)

Writer-and-producer team Shawn and Robyn Slovo have a grand story to tell. Their father was the head of the South African Communist Party, a major Anti-Apartheid force. Here they present the dramatised version of the struggle of Patrick Chamusso (Derek Luke), a man from Secunda in South Africa whose treatment by the Apartheid government, in particular Man-In-Black Nic Vos (Tim Robbins), leads him to take up arms and try to free his country.
     If nothing else, Catch A Fire is an excellent character piece, and does well in portraying both sides as basic human beings. Indeed, the two main characters are very similar in the beginning; both are family men with two daughters each, a wife that they love over everything else and views that only just follow their side of the Apartheid. The humanisation of Vos really helps to eradicate any feeling of (pardon the term) black and white morality, and seeing as he here is the amalgamation of many real people, it goes a long way to push the idea of forgiveness given towards the end.
     In many places, focus on character overrides plot. This is especially jarring in the beginning, where we know very little about our setting other than a few facts and figures. Indeed, the true horrors of apartheid don't start to appear until around the twenty-five-minute mark. Regardless of this slow pacing near the beginning, Chamusso's false capture really sets things going. The atmosphere is kept high throughout using a soundtrack of both background singing and the characters themselves chanting Anti-Apartheid songs.
     Inevitably, your enjoyment of this film depends on your enjoyment of this genre as a whole. Catch A Fire is a moving tale of courage and loss, but one with strong characterisation and a brilliant atmosphere. The plot may be a little thin in some places, but once it gets going there is a stirring pace that makes for a thrilling and heartbreaking movie experience.

Thanks.