ShareThisBy CARLA MEYER
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Patrick Chamusso, the refinery foreman played by Derek Luke in "Catch a Fire," brims with energy, whether he's dancing to a Donna Summer song or coaching the local youth soccer team.
This busy husband and father's enthusiasm is remarkable for flourishing under oppressive conditions. As a young black man living in 1980 South Africa, he engenders the suspicion of white authorities simply for having a car and a camera. He might be an up-and-comer at work, but he's forbidden from using the refinery's whites-only restroom.
Presenting the story of the real-life Chamusso, director Phillip Noyce ("Rabbit-Proof Fence") and screenwriter Shawn Slovo (daughter of Joe Slovo, one-time leader of the African National Congress' military arm) deftly establish the young man's ability to thrive under circumstances that would sorely challenge most others. It's when those circumstances grow intolerable, and Patrick's behavior changes, that the film falters.
The first part of the movie focuses on Patrick and his wife, Precious (Bonnie Henna), a gorgeous pair whose relationship is still passionate years into their marriage. She flares with jealousy when her husband dances with another woman.
Despite his flirting, Patrick's priority is clearly Precious and their children. That's why, when others mention the ANC's campaign against apartheid, Patrick listens with one ear or not at all. He doesn't want trouble.
But trouble is inevitable when one is black and living under apartheid. When the refinery is sabotaged on a day Patrick has called in sick, he becomes a suspect.
Tim Robbins plays the composite character Nic Vos, a police colonel heading the investigation (i.e., head games and torture tactics) of the refinery incident. From the constant crease in his forehead to his Afrikaner accent, Robbins' performance seems a little off. Vos is just fishy, a mostly bad cop with a bit of good cop thrown in.
The film tries to present Vos as Patrick's counterpart as well as his captor and tormentor. Like Patrick, the cop worries about the safety of his family in this unstable country. But efforts to flesh out the cop character only muddle the film.
Given the complexity of Chamusso's own story, "Catch a Fire" might have benefited from a less ambiguous villain. Such a character would offset the inherent dramatic liability of a film that tells a 25-year-old story and lags behind other, more urgent films on the subject of apartheid.
But Luke holds our interest throughout as Patrick's exuberance morphs into quiet exasperation and then stony resolve. The weightiness he brings to Patrick's struggle keeps his performance compelling even as the character behaves inconsistently.
Much of that inconsistency comes from the script. Having worked so hard to establish Patrick as putting family above all else, "Catch a Fire" abruptly switches gears to support his more hardened views toward his oppressors. Though his shift in stance certainly seems credible _ especially since it really happened _ it jars within the context of how his story has been presented up to this point.
102 minutes
Rated PG-13
