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Movies / On DVD / Catch a Fire
Catch a Fire

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Catch a Fire (2006)

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Reviews Counted:136

Fresh:103

Rotten:33

Average Rating:6.7/10

Consensus: 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.

Rated: 12A [See Full Rating] for thematic material involving torture and abuse, violence and brief language.

Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins

Genre: Dramas

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... 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 [More]

Starring: Derek Luke, Tim Robbins, Bonnie Henna, Mncedisi Shabangu

Starring: Derek Luke, Tim Robbins, Bonnie Henna, Mncedisi Shabangu, Tumisho K. Masha, Sithembiso Khumalo, Terry Pheto, Michele Burgers, Malcolm Purkey

Director: Phillip Noyce

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

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Reviews for Catch a Fire

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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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 Source: thelondonpaper | comment Comment
03/30/07
Neil Smith
Neil Smith
thelondonpaper

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 Source: thelondonpaper | comment Comment
03/30/07
Neil Smith
Neil Smith
thelondonpaper
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
03/24/07
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
03/23/07
Paul Arendt
Paul Arendt
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
03/23/07
Dave Calhoun
Dave Calhoun
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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 Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
03/19/07
Helen OHara
Helen OHara
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
11/04/06
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

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

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
11/02/06
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

Movies like Catch a Fire are perhaps the most banal sort to write about.

Full Review Source: Film and Felt | comment Comment
09/19/09
Gabe Leibowitz
Gabe Leibowitz
Film and Felt

Noyce is now the favorite filmmaker of your local Amnesty International

Full Review Source: I.E. Weekly | comment Comment
07/02/09
Amy Nicholson
Amy Nicholson
I.E. Weekly

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
11/20/08
Fred Topel
Fred Topel
Hollywood.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
01/15/08
Garth Franklin
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons

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 Source: culturevulture.net | comment Comment
04/23/07
Beverly Berning
Beverly Berning
culturevulture.net

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

Full Review Source: WBAI Web Radio | comment Comment
03/21/07
Prairie Miller
Prairie Miller
WBAI Web Radio

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 Source: Reeler | comment Comment
02/09/07
Michelle Orange
Michelle Orange
Reeler

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

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
02/06/07
Katey Rich
Katey Rich
Film Journal International

Actually serves as little else but agitprop for South Africa's ruling party . . .

Full Review Source: SA Movie & DVD Magazine | comment Comment
01/10/07
James O'Ehley
James O'Ehley
SA Movie & DVD Magazine

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

Full Review Source: Bangitout.com | comment Comment
12/31/06
Jordan Hiller
Jordan Hiller
Bangitout.com

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

Full Review Source: Final Call | comment Comment
12/28/06
Kam Williams
Kam Williams
Final Call

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

Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | comment Comment
12/08/06
Robert Roten
Robert Roten
Laramie Movie Scope
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
all

Latest News for Catch a Fire

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