Catch a Fire (film)
Encyclopedia
Catch a Fire is a 2006 dramatic
thriller about activists against apartheid in South Africa
. The film was directed by Phillip Noyce
, from a screenplay
written by Shawn Slovo
. Slovo's father, Joe Slovo
, and mother Ruth First
, leaders of the South African Communist Party
and activists in the Anti-Apartheid Movement
, appear as characters in the film, while her sister, Robyn Slovo
, produced the film and plays their mother Ruth First. Catch a Fire was shot on location in South Africa, Swaziland
and Mozambique
.
, a young, apolitical
man (played by Derek Luke
) who is accused of carrying out an attack against the government, and an Afrikaner
police officer
, Nic Vos, played by Tim Robbins
. Vos is in charge of locating the perpetrators of a recent bomb attack against the Secunda CTL synthetic fuel
refinery, which is the largest coal liquefaction
plant in the world.
Patrick is unwillingly swept into Vos's investigation due to his inability to provide a satisfactory explanation for his whereabouts at the time of the bombing (he was actually having an affair with a woman not his wife). Eventually Patrick, his wife, Precious, (played by Bonnie Henna
), and his family are torture
d and savagely abused by Vos and Vos's subordinates. Desperate, Patrick says that he is willing to confess to a crime he did not commit to protect his family from torture. At last, Vos finally concludes that Patrick is innocent, and orders his release.
Fueled by the anger at the injustice
s he and his family suffered, Patrick joins the Umkhonto we Sizwe
, the guerrilla military wing of the African National Congress
and becomes exactly what Vos had initially accused him of being. This decision was an act of revenge
against the government for killing his friend, tormenting not only himself, but his wife as well. He attempts to execute a plan to attack Secunda, the refinery he used to work for, by first bombing its adjacent water supply facilities, and 15 minutes later triggering the main explosion
within the refinery itself. This would allow the refinery's workforce to flee between the two explosions, and not be harmed. Also, the damage of the first bomb would reduce the possibility of successfully extinguishing the fire caused by the second, main explosion. Patrick succeeds in the first part, but the second bomb is discovered by Vos and deactivated.
Patrick is arrest
ed and sentence
d to 24 years in prison, after his wife goes to Vos and tells him where Patrick is, because she fell for a simple trick in which Vos left photographs of Patrick talking to a female member of the ANC. Through her unjust jealousy
she sells him out. He is released early due to the abolition of apartheid.
Precious, who has remarried, is waiting for him and apologizes, and Patrick forgives her and he says he is sorry as well. Some time later, he has been trying to adjust to normal life but the pain he felt wouldn't leave him. One day, he sees Vos sitting out near a small body of water opposite to the side he and friends are on. He creeps over and through some brush sees that it is indeed Vos, and though a part of him wants to break Vos' neck, he decides that it is not worth it, and the real Patrick Chamusso
is shown explaining that he told himself then and there that only through forgiveness would he truly be free. He left Vos alone, and went on to remarry and take in over 80 orphan
ed children in South Africa to provide a home for kids who lost their families during the apartheid struggles.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
thriller about activists against apartheid in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. The film was directed by Phillip Noyce
Phillip Noyce
Phillip Noyce is an Australian film director.-Life and career:Noyce was born in Griffith, New South Wales, attended Barker College, Sydney, and began making short films at the age of 18, starting with Better to Reign in Hell, using his friends as the cast...
, from a screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
written by Shawn Slovo
Shawn Slovo
Shawn Slovo is a screenwriter, best known for the film A World Apart, based on her childhood in South Africa under the apartheid. She is the daughter of the late South African Communist Party leaders Joe Slovo and Ruth First...
. Slovo's father, Joe Slovo
Joe Slovo
For Joe Slovo Informal Settlement in Cape Town, see: Joe Slovo .Joe Slovo was a South African politician, long-time leader of the South African Communist Party , and leading member of the African National Congress.-Life:Slovo was born in Obeliai, Lithuania to a Jewish family who emigrated to South...
, and mother Ruth First
Ruth First
Ruth First was a white South African anti-apartheid activist and scholar born in Johannesburg, South Africa...
, leaders of the South African Communist Party
South African Communist Party
South African Communist Party is a political party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa by the joining together of the International Socialist League and others under the leadership of Willam H...
and activists in the Anti-Apartheid Movement
Anti-Apartheid Movement
Anti-Apartheid Movement , originally known as the Boycott Movement, was a British organization that was at the center of the international movement opposing South Africa's system of apartheid and supporting South Africa's Blacks....
, appear as characters in the film, while her sister, Robyn Slovo
Robyn Slovo
Robyn Slovo is a film producer. Her work includes the 2000 film Morvern Callar the 2006 film Catch a Fire and the 2011 film Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy....
, produced the film and plays their mother Ruth First. Catch a Fire was shot on location in South Africa, Swaziland
Swaziland
Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique...
and Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
.
Plot
The film revolves around Patrick ChamussoPatrick Chamusso
Patrick Chamusso is a member of the African National Congress party of South Africa who participated in the militant actions of the organization during the apartheid era....
, a young, apolitical
Apolitical
The state or quality of being apolitical can be the apathy and/or the antipathy towards all political affiliations. Being apolitical can also refer to situations in which people take an unbiased position in regard to political matters.-References:...
man (played by Derek Luke
Derek Luke
Derek Luke is an American actor. He won the Independent Spirit Award for his big-screen debut performance in the 2002 film Antwone Fisher, directed and produced by Denzel Washington.-Early life:...
) who is accused of carrying out an attack against the government, and an Afrikaner
Afrikaner
Afrikaners are an ethnic group in Southern Africa descended from almost equal numbers of Dutch, French and German settlers whose native tongue is Afrikaans: a Germanic language which derives primarily from 17th century Dutch, and a variety of other languages.-Related ethno-linguistic groups:The...
police officer
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
, Nic Vos, played by Tim Robbins
Tim Robbins
Timothy Francis "Tim" Robbins is an American actor, screenwriter, director, producer, activist and musician. He is the former longtime partner of actress Susan Sarandon...
. Vos is in charge of locating the perpetrators of a recent bomb attack against the Secunda CTL synthetic fuel
Synthetic fuel
Synthetic fuel or synfuel is a liquid fuel obtained from coal, natural gas, oil shale, or biomass. It may also refer to fuels derived from other solids such as plastics or rubber waste. It may also refer to gaseous fuels produced in a similar way...
refinery, which is the largest coal liquefaction
Coal liquefaction
-Methods:The liquefaction processes are classified as direct conversion to liquids processes and indirect conversion to liquids processeses. Direct processes are carbonization and hydrogenation.-Pyrolysis and carbonization processes:...
plant in the world.
Patrick is unwillingly swept into Vos's investigation due to his inability to provide a satisfactory explanation for his whereabouts at the time of the bombing (he was actually having an affair with a woman not his wife). Eventually Patrick, his wife, Precious, (played by Bonnie Henna
Bonnie Henna
Bonnie Henna was born in Soweto, South Africa. She attended school at Belgravia Convent and Greenside High School in Johannesburg.Born Bonnie Mbuli, she was discovered at the age of 13, at a bus stop on her way home from school, by an agent who soon got her a job on the television series Viva...
), and his family are torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
d and savagely abused by Vos and Vos's subordinates. Desperate, Patrick says that he is willing to confess to a crime he did not commit to protect his family from torture. At last, Vos finally concludes that Patrick is innocent, and orders his release.
Fueled by the anger at the injustice
Injustice
Injustice is the lack of or opposition to justice, either in reference to a particular event or act, or as a larger status quo. The term generally refers to misuse, abuse, neglect, or malfeasance that is uncorrected or else sanctioned by a legal system. Misuse and abuse with regard to a particular...
s he and his family suffered, Patrick joins the Umkhonto we Sizwe
Umkhonto we Sizwe
Umkhonto we Sizwe , translated "Spear of the Nation," was the armed wing of the African National Congress which fought against the South African apartheid government. MK launched its first guerrilla attacks against government installations on 16 December 1961...
, the guerrilla military wing of the African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
and becomes exactly what Vos had initially accused him of being. This decision was an act of revenge
Revenge
Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. It is also called payback, retribution, retaliation or vengeance; it may be characterized, justly or unjustly, as a form of justice.-Function in society:Some societies believe that the...
against the government for killing his friend, tormenting not only himself, but his wife as well. He attempts to execute a plan to attack Secunda, the refinery he used to work for, by first bombing its adjacent water supply facilities, and 15 minutes later triggering the main explosion
Explosion
An explosion is a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner, usually with the generation of high temperatures and the release of gases. An explosion creates a shock wave. If the shock wave is a supersonic detonation, then the source of the blast is called a "high explosive"...
within the refinery itself. This would allow the refinery's workforce to flee between the two explosions, and not be harmed. Also, the damage of the first bomb would reduce the possibility of successfully extinguishing the fire caused by the second, main explosion. Patrick succeeds in the first part, but the second bomb is discovered by Vos and deactivated.
Patrick is arrest
Arrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
ed and sentence
Sentence (law)
In law, a sentence forms the final explicit act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. The sentence can generally involve a decree of imprisonment, a fine and/or other punishments against a defendant convicted of a crime...
d to 24 years in prison, after his wife goes to Vos and tells him where Patrick is, because she fell for a simple trick in which Vos left photographs of Patrick talking to a female member of the ANC. Through her unjust jealousy
Jealousy
Jealousy is a second emotion and typically refers to the negative thoughts and feelings of insecurity, fear, and anxiety over an anticipated loss of something that the person values, particularly in reference to a human connection. Jealousy often consists of a combination of presenting emotions...
she sells him out. He is released early due to the abolition of apartheid.
Precious, who has remarried, is waiting for him and apologizes, and Patrick forgives her and he says he is sorry as well. Some time later, he has been trying to adjust to normal life but the pain he felt wouldn't leave him. One day, he sees Vos sitting out near a small body of water opposite to the side he and friends are on. He creeps over and through some brush sees that it is indeed Vos, and though a part of him wants to break Vos' neck, he decides that it is not worth it, and the real Patrick Chamusso
Patrick Chamusso
Patrick Chamusso is a member of the African National Congress party of South Africa who participated in the militant actions of the organization during the apartheid era....
is shown explaining that he told himself then and there that only through forgiveness would he truly be free. He left Vos alone, and went on to remarry and take in over 80 orphan
Orphan
An orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan...
ed children in South Africa to provide a home for kids who lost their families during the apartheid struggles.
Cast
- Tim RobbinsTim RobbinsTimothy Francis "Tim" Robbins is an American actor, screenwriter, director, producer, activist and musician. He is the former longtime partner of actress Susan Sarandon...
as Nic Vos - Derek LukeDerek LukeDerek Luke is an American actor. He won the Independent Spirit Award for his big-screen debut performance in the 2002 film Antwone Fisher, directed and produced by Denzel Washington.-Early life:...
as Patrick ChamussoPatrick ChamussoPatrick Chamusso is a member of the African National Congress party of South Africa who participated in the militant actions of the organization during the apartheid era.... - Bonnie HennaBonnie HennaBonnie Henna was born in Soweto, South Africa. She attended school at Belgravia Convent and Greenside High School in Johannesburg.Born Bonnie Mbuli, she was discovered at the age of 13, at a bus stop on her way home from school, by an agent who soon got her a job on the television series Viva...
as Precious Chamusso - Mncedisi Shabangu as Zeko September
- Tumisho Masha as Obadi
- Sithembiso Khumalo as Sixpence
- Terry Pheto as Miriam
- Michele Burgers as Anna Vos
- Mpho Lovinga as Johnny Piliso
- Malcolm Purkey as Joe SlovoJoe SlovoFor Joe Slovo Informal Settlement in Cape Town, see: Joe Slovo .Joe Slovo was a South African politician, long-time leader of the South African Communist Party , and leading member of the African National Congress.-Life:Slovo was born in Obeliai, Lithuania to a Jewish family who emigrated to South...
- Robyn SlovoRobyn SlovoRobyn Slovo is a film producer. Her work includes the 2000 film Morvern Callar the 2006 film Catch a Fire and the 2011 film Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy....
as Ruth FirstRuth FirstRuth First was a white South African anti-apartheid activist and scholar born in Johannesburg, South Africa...
External links
- Catch a Fire Reviews at Metacritic.com
- Film web page with trailer.
- Audio interview with director, Phillip Noyce, on the Afrikaans in Sydney podcast.