In certain situations, even the most righteous, law-abiding citizen can be transformed into a terrorist.
"Catch a Fire," the latest film from director Phillip Noyce ("The Quiet American"), attempts to prove this ideology by portraying the struggle of a factory oil foreman, Patrick Chamusso (Derek Luke, "Glory Road"), as he battles with the threat of apartheid in South Africa.
The film portrays his drastic leap from subservient second-class citizen to terrorist.
The movie begins by taking the audience through the daily life of Chamusso and his wife Precious (Bonnie Mbuli, "Drum"), and the director makes it apparent that he is a law-abiding family man.
Noyce blatantly displays the horrors of apartheid by showing the brutality of the South African police as they try to oppress the Black majority. Despite the government's perpetual cruelty for the first half of the movie, Chamusso keeps his head out of political affairs.
The tables begin to turn as Chamusso and his wife are wrongfully imprisoned by South African anti-terrorist official Nic Vos (Tim Robbins, "Embedded"). After he is released from prison, Chamusso takes a stand by participating within the African National Congresses' terrorist squad.
The conflict of the movie is hinged on Vos' tireless hunt for Chamusso.
Luke offers an expert portrayal, allowing the audience to cheer him on despite his terrorist involvement. Unfortunately, Robbins falls short of the skill found in his previous noteworthy performances such as "The Shawshank Redemption."
The film fails to stand out among the endless array of political dramas that have already recently released. Although Chamusso's story is indeed worth telling, Noyce seems incapable of portraying it in a definitive way.
The message of hope and righteousness prevailing over adversity has been beaten to death. In order for a film to stand out, it needs to portray this message in a unique way and this movie simply cannot accomplish it.
In addition to the dry portrayal of a great story, the movie lacked the spice of intense action scenes promised by its trailer.
Besides an overall ambiguous message, "Catch a Fire" greatly underplays the importance of South African hero Nelson Mandela's message that in order to be free one must learn to forgive. The quality of the film would have been greatly improved had Mandela played more of a key role in the action.
The fact that Noyce perpetually tries to make the movie seem as unbiased as possible is another crucial downfall. It seems as if he is trying too hard to be fair, and subsequently diminishes the overall quality of the movie.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
