Catch a Fire
Review by Fritz Esker
Director Phillip Noyce (The Quiet American) returns to the realm of the political film with Catch a Fire, a story about South Africa in the waning years of apartheid. It is not a bad film, but it has the misfortune of coming on the heels of other films ( Munich, V for Vendetta) that cover similar thematic ground more effectively.
While it is not as nuanced and complex as 2002's Vietnam-set The Quiet American (well worth renting via Netflix if you've never seen it), Catch a Fire admirably strives, and partially succeeds, in establishing some complexity. Patrick (Derek Luke) is an apolitical young man with a wife (Bonnie Henna) and child. When a terrorist attack causes an explosion at the refinery he works for, an anti-terrorist honcho (Tim Robbins) becomes focused on him because of a combination of bad timing and little white lies Luke tells to try an extricate himself. When Robbins catches him in these lies, Luke is tortured. After the torture, Robbins realizes he has the wrong man and releases Luke. However, the previously apolitical young man has now become highly politicized, determined to join the ANC and fight back against apartheid.
It would be easy to make a good vs. evil story about apartheid and the film's sympathies clearly lie with Luke's character, but Catch a Fire does find some gray areas. Patrick's newfound obsession with overthrowing the government causes him to neglect and alienate his family. Robbins' character is reminiscent in some ways of Stephen Rea in V for Vendetta: a man with a few scruples remaining who does grunt work for some very evil guys. He's pragmatic enough to realize apartheid won't last and is a devoted father, but still goes through the motions of using any means necessary, including torture, to maintain order.
Like V for Vendetta, the film asks the audience to identify with a character who is a terrorist. Granted, people with functioning consciences would agree that apartheid was evil and deserved to come to an end, but it is still worth noting that this is the second major film to be released this year where the hero is a terrorist. Like Munich , Catch a Fire also tries to address the zero-sum quality of revenge. In this area, the film, in its third act, preaches a noble message of forgiveness of even those who have horribly wronged us. Unfortunately, this message of forgiveness is rushed through and delivered mostly through a voice-over. Viewers may note similarities between this third act and that of the superior Flags of Our Fathers, which also resorted to too much voice-over in its concluding act. Flags of Our Fathers, however, took a bit more time in its third act to keep some grounding in the story, even as it went through several years in relatively brief screen time. The finale of Catch a Fire leaves one wondering if Noyce was double parked.
It is hard to dislike a film with such honorable intentions as Catch a Fire and the film certainly has its merits. However, it mainly calls to mind other, better films (Munich, V for Vendetta, The Quiet American).