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MOVIES / ON DVD / CATCH A FIRE
Catch a Fire

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Catch a Fire (2006)

76%
63%
75%
N/A
N/A
N/A
76 %
Reviews Counted: 135 Fresh: 103  Rotten:32 Average Rating: 6.7/10
 
Consensus: Director Phillip Noyce tackles apartheid and terrorism with gusto. No stranger to the political thriller, director Phillip Noyce tackles apartheid and terrorism with experienced gusto, while Derek Luke and Tim Robbins hand in nuanced performances. more
 
Rated: 12A
Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins
Theatrical Release: 23-03-2007
Synopsis:
Powerfully telling the story of a South African hero's journey to freedom, Catch a Fire is the new film from director Phillip Noyce (The Quiet American, Rabbit-Proof Fence). The political thriller takes place during the country's turbulent and divided times in the early 1980s, and in the new... [More]
Powerfully telling the story of a South African hero's journey to freedom, Catch a Fire is the new film from director Phillip Noyce (The Quiet American, Rabbit-Proof Fence). The political thriller takes place during the country's turbulent and divided times in the early 1980s, and in the new South Africa of today. Derek Luke portrays real-life hero Patrick Chamusso. Patrick is a charming and loving husband to his wife Precious (Bonnie Henna), and a caring father to his two young daughters. He works as a foreman at the centrally located Secunda oil refinery, which is a symbol of South Africa's self-sufficiency at a time when the world was protesting the country's oppressive apartheid system. In his spare time, Patrick coaches a local boys' soccer team. Carefully toeing the hard line imposed on blacks by apartheid, Patrick is completely apolitical. Academy Award winner Tim Robbins plays Nic Vos, a Colonel in the country's Police Security Branch. The shrewd and charismatic Vos strives to maintain order in volatile situations, which have become more and more frequent as the outlawed activist organization African National Congress (ANC) rallies blacks against apartheid. Vos is also concerned for the safety of his wife and two daughters. He and his family live a world away from the Chamusso family ... until the innocent Patrick comes under suspicion and is arrested (in June 1980) for sabotage of the Secunda oil refinery. His alibi is compromised, and Patrick is desperate to shield Precious from a past indiscretion and keep his job. But he is ill-prepared to withstand brutal interrogations by Vos' men. As Vos further insinuates himself into the lives of the Chamussos, to Patrick's shock and shame, Precious herself is jailed and tortured. Although he and Precious are soon released from custody, Patrick is stunned into action and completely reorients his sense of self and purpose. He leaves his family to join up with the ANC. Becoming a rebel fighter and political operative, Patrick is radicalized on behalf of his people and his country. He ultimately envisions a formidable and dangerous follow-up strike against the Secunda refinery, risking his own life and future. Change must and will come, for Patrick and his family, and for South Africa itself. --© Focus Features [Less]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Derek Luke, Tim Robbins, Bonnie Henna, Mncedisi Shabangu, Tumisho K. Masha

Director: Phillip Noyce
Screenwriter: Shawn Slovo
Producer: Robert Bevan, Eric Fellner, Anthony Minghella

DVD Info

Release:

Jun 1, 2009

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Snap Case
  • Anamorphic Widescreen - 2.35

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - English, French
  • Subtitles - English (SDH), French, Spanish - Optional

Additional Release Material:

  • Audio Commentaries - Director and Cast
  • Deleted Scenes

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Ratings Image

Sadly, it's all a bit of a Boer about 20 years past its sell-by date and tells us little we didn't know already.Catch a Fire's sluggishly paced plot refuses to come

Full Review | Comment
03/30/07 12:34 PM
Neil Smith
thelondonpaper
Ratings Image

Sadly, it's all a bit of a Boer about 20 years past its sell-by date and tells us little we didn't know already.Catch a Fire's sluggishly paced plot refuses to come

Full Review | Comment
03/30/07 12:33 PM
Neil Smith
thelondonpaper
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
03/24/07 03:38 AM
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

Featuring excllent performances from Luke and Robbins, Catch A Fire is a mature, thought provoking film.

Full Review | Comment
03/23/07 08:36 AM
Paul Arendt
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

At its best when making the most of the conflicts at the heart of apartheid.

Full Review | Comment
03/23/07 08:05 AM
Dave Calhoun
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

An intelligent thriller that effectively conveys the message that terrorism, even in apartheid-era South Africa, is rarely a black-and-white issue.

Full Review | Comment
03/19/07 10:40 AM
Helen OHara
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

A true story from apartheid-era South Africa, this moving and inspiring story has a heavy contemporary resonance.

Full Review | Comment
11/04/06 04:43 AM
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image

This is a gripping political thriller and Derek Luke has 'The New Denzel Washington' written all over him. Highly recommended.

Full Review | Comment
11/02/06 03:15 AM
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | Comment
01/15/08 03:15 AM
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons
Ratings Image

Let us hope that Noyce's influence in Hollywood will help give this film the attention it deserves, and that his newfound activism will have some effect.

Full Review | Comment
04/23/07 03:56 PM
Beverly Berning
culturevulture.net
Ratings Image

A scathing examination of how oppression and torture breed terrorism.

Full Review | Comment
04/10/07 12:40 PM
Dawn Taylor
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image

Revolutionary struggle in a film uniquely focused on an ordinary but remarkable man.

Full Review | Comment
03/21/07 09:25 PM
Prairie Miller
WBAI Web Radio
Ratings Image

Noyce's blockbuster tour of duty has equipped him with the skills to bring some of the 20th century's most resonant stories to the masses, dressed in the lean gloss of satisfying thrillers.

Full Review | Comment
02/09/07 08:22 AM
Michelle Orange
Reeler
Ratings Image

What biopics and issue-driven films could be if they had the guts to go beyond the easy answers.

Full Review | Comment
02/06/07 07:17 AM
Katey Rich
Film Journal International
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Actually serves as little else but agitprop for South Africa's ruling party . . .

Full Review | Comment
01/10/07 02:59 AM
James O'Ehley
SA Movie & DVD Magazine
Ratings Image

The danger with films like Catch a Fire is that it wields the past purposefully as propaganda without tipping off the audience.

Full Review | Comment
12/31/06 07:34 AM
Jordan Hiller
Bangitout.com
Ratings Image

Apartheid revisited, less as a repugnant racist ideology than as an ethically ambivalent philosophy.

Full Review | Comment
12/28/06 08:30 PM
Kam Williams
Final Call
Ratings Image

A story of bigotry, hatred, rebellion, forgiveness and finally, healing.

Full Review | Comment
12/08/06 12:00 PM
Robert Roten
Laramie Movie Scope
Ratings Image

Though it was earnest in its heartfelt message, the film was not remarkable enough to make it memorable.

Full Review | Comment
11/28/06 08:31 AM
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ratings Image

A well-made and aggravating (in a good way) character study.

Full Review | Comment
11/26/06 05:39 PM
Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Goatdog's Movies
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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