Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14674 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-07-16
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 97 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Catch a Fire is an intelligent, fact-based apartheid thriller that tells the story of Patrick Chamusso (sympathetically played by Derek Luke), a South African wrongly accused, in 1980, of sabotaging the oil refinery where he worked. After both he and his wife are tortured by agents of the Boer government (led by a conflicted security chief played by Tim Robbins), Chamusso becomes a radicalised guerilla for the MK, or military wing, of the African National Congress. Filmed on the actual locations where its events took place, Catch a Fire bristles with urgent authenticity, its political cat-and-mouse game capably handled by director Philip Noyce, who applies the sensitivity of his acclaimed films Rabbit-Proof Fence and The Quiet American with the thriller expertise established in mainstream hits like Dead Calm and Patriot Games. The film's third-act shift toward conventional sabotage-and-manhunt plotting may seem jarring, but you can hardly blame Noyce and screenwriter Shawn Slovo (whose father led the MK when Chamusso joined) for sticking to the facts in a politically charged story handled with admirable humanity and compassion. --Jeff Shannon

Synopsis
Set in early 1980s Apartheid-era South Africa, Catch a Fire is a gripping political thriller based on a remarkable true story. Derek Luke (Antwone Fisher) stars as Patrick Chamusso, a family man who works as a foreman at the Secunda oil refinery. Although he tries his best to stay out of politics, he is dragged in when Colonel Nic Vos (Tim Robbins) wrongly believes that Chamusso is a prime suspect in a terrorist bombing that occurred at the plant. Despite being brutally beaten and tortured, Chamusso continues to declare his innocence, but the situation changes drastically when the Police Security Branch brings in his wife, Precious (Bonnie Henna). Faced with some hard choices, Chamusso starts listening to radio broadcasts by the illegal African National Congress, an organization of freedom fighters seeking to end apartheid, and decides it's finally time to fight back. Vos and Chamusso, both dedicated to their families as well as to their very different causes, play a relentless game of cat and mouse, symbols of the intense battle between blacks and whites that blew up in horrific violence right before apartheid ended. Robbins and Luke are both excellent in complex and difficult roles, and there's a breakout performance from South African actress Henna. Director Phillip Noyce (Rabbit-Proof Fence, The Quiet American) and screenwriter Shawn Slovo (whose father, Joe Slovo, was a white leader of the resistance movement) researched the story thoroughly, resulting in a powerful, realistic drama. Catch a Fire was filmed on location in South Africa, Mozambique, and Swaziland, and features traditional, folk, and protest songs by the Bongani Singing Group, Sidikadika Ndlovu, Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus, and Bob Marley, among others.

Customer Reviews

Great story
How did apartheid ever last for as long as it did? Us humans have over history been pretty bad to each other haven't we? This film is a great story of triumph over adversity, hard viewing, at times ,sad but also uplifting. Good acting and overall worth watching.

The Human Cost of Apartheid
Based on a true story, this South-African set film starring Tim Robbins is a thoughtfully made and thought-provoking look at apartheid, and the human cost. Tim Robbins is well cast and plays with a quiet authority, but the real stars are the other actors, unknown to me but worthy of greater attention. This film shows what can happen in a society under threat when fear, paranoia and bad intelligence get the upper hand (a similar combination and outcome to that portrayed in 'Rendition') and how, at the end of the chain, it is always the innocent who suffer. This film is well worth seeing.

Moving and thought provoking
Well worth sitting down to watch this. Much along the Biko line. The consequences of a brutal police and mistaken suspect. Isn't it always the case that such appalling circumstances make for gripping stories. Actually this film is based on fact and is all the more chilling for it.