Catch a Fire

The transformation of an apolitical man into a committed activist as a result of official oppression is the subject of Phillip Noyce's true story set in apartheid-era South Africa. The film is based on the life of Patrick Chamusso, a worker at an oil refinery near Johannesburg who was arbitrarily arrested as a suspected terrorist after an explosion and tortured by government agents. Radicalized by the experience, Chamusso joined the military wing of the African National Congress after his release and eventually spearheaded an attack on the same refinery he was falsely accused of bombing. Catch a Fire features a refined, sensitive lead performance by Derek Luke and an interesting, if not entirely convincing, turn by Tim Robbins as Chamusso's chief interrogator (portrayed not as a standard-issue villain but a complex and conflicted man). But even though the film's ultimate message of forgiveness and reconciliation is indeed uplifting, the exaltation of the protagonist's conversion to the ANC, which—however positively presented—was still an avowedly Marxist group that embraced violence as its major weapon, is somewhat problematic (and the films feels a little dated, coming so long after the end of apartheid, and in the wake of better films on the subject). Still, Luke's moving performance and Noyce's committed direction combine to make Catch a Fire an involving watch, overall. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary (by director Phillip Noyce, producer Robyn Slovo, real-life subject Patrick Chamusso, writer Shawn Slovo, and costars Tim Robbins, Derek Luke, and Bonnie Henna), two minutes of deleted scenes, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a flawed but worthwhile film.] (F. Swietek)