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Kaffeine Buzz
reviews independent and foreign films,
in addition to reporting the latest buzz behind
Colorado's film festivals.
catch a fire (Phillip Noyce)
Patrick Chamusso (Derek Luke) is the hero we
never knew about. A father, a husband, working
as a foreman at the Secunda oil refinery in South
Africa during early ‘80s, his only concerns
were providing a good living for his family and
coaching the soccer team in his neighborhood.
He didn’t live a fancy life by any means,
but he got paid enough to live comfortably, which
is more than others like him could say. He stays
out of trouble and away from the growing political
tension that existed in the land run by the government’s
apartheid system.
After attending a wedding, he and his family
are returning home when their car is stopped at
a checkpoint. African National Congress (ANC)
rebels had sent a bomb on a train track nearby
and the security policemen pulled him from his
car and pushed him to the ground, suspicious of
his ability to afford a car and the camera they
find in his trunk. This is a prelude of what is
to come.
Director Phillip Noyce opens the story even more,
showing Chamusso with his wife, mother and two
daughters, doing things that South African families
do. And with a change of scenery, we see Nic Vos,
played by Tim Robbins, a Colonel in the South
Africa’s Police Security Branch who is responsible
for tracking down the rebels, or as they see them,
terrorists who threaten the white way of life.
Vos is with his family, sitting in a park eating
lunch while he plays them his guitar, then taking
his family out for target practice, which is upsetting
to his oldest daughter.
The two men’s lives intertwine when the
refinery is bombed, and because Chamusso is a
supervisor with access, he comes under suspicion.
Although Chamusso was innocent, his alibi was
gray at best, so for months they held him, torturing
him to get a confession and information about
ANC operations. Things he knew nothing about.
Vos never needed to officially charging him with
any crime or allow representation, and the torture
tactics used sound glaringly familiar to what
exists today with GITMO. It is disheartening to
realize this while watching this film, and that
more the 20 years later, these kind of tactics
still exist today.
When his wife is brought in and tortured, that's
when Chamussos' world changes. They are both ultimately
released, but the damage is done. He leaves his
wife and his family to become what he was accused
of, a rebel fighter for the ANC that would plan
and perform another bombing of the refinery.
What Noyce created here is an amazing piece of
work and emotional journey that intensifies with
every scene, all while learning a lesson in a
history that dates back within our lifetime. Duke’s
performance left its mark, and it was evident
that he took the consulting from the real Chamusso
to heart, representing his unbridled determination
and fiery soul. The music also plays a large part,
as it does in the life of the South African’s,
a cathartic tool that fuels their spirits. Bob
Marley in particular was a huge influence of that
time and also inspired the title of the movie.
This is one of the best movies to come out in
2006, bar none, and it will be no shock when its
presence is also felt at next year’s Academy
Awards.
www.catchafirethemovie.com
-Kim Owens
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