Phillip Noyce does get to find the true story in various parts of the world dug deep for no one’s notice and then shoots a film. His “Rabbit-Proof Fence” told the journey of three young aboriginal kids in 1931 Australia walking 1500 miles to reach back their home from a government camp to “convert” and “train” to suit them in white society. And now he takes the life story of Patrick Chamusso during the period of Apartheid South Africa. As many might not now (and I came to know only after watching the movie) that Patrick Chamusso is a real life character and the film is based upon that.
If some one can define a perfect family man’s life, that would be Patrick Chamusso’s (Derek Luke). He works in an oil refinery stepping his way up, sitting by side with his kids and helping them in Math, earning the jealousy of his wife when he dances with another lady and sweetly gets a tap in his head, coaching a local kid’s soccer team and staying away from politics. Noyce with the cool headed Luke makes no mistake in giving that. We know his life is going to be shambled into disaster. Whenever normalcy rises up and flows out of the brim it is a bad indication for the family in films. It is understood that a calamity waits and is going to break them apart. Many do it in cheap works of cinematic. Not here. We feel sorry for the Chamusso who will be facing the painful interrogation orchestrated by Colonel Nic Vos (Tim Robbins) working for the Anti-terrorist squad.
Chamusso completes the perfect family man by having another family. And at one point when he confesses it to Nic, even he does not believe. He is good to be a family man and a terrorist but not some one to have an affair. A man who does not even sing the anthem of the Freedom Fighters song when the whole factory workers are chorusing tells about Chamusso. He never, ever wants to be in trouble and put his family in jeopardy. How an innocent man can be tortured and changed to be some one else is “Catch a Fire”.
As Nic Vos, Tim Robbins comes up with yet another powerful performance. Even in the end it is hard to get this man. He never shows signs of anything at all. He is a family man too. He trains them to shoot and says to protect them when danger hits them. His way of interrogation is soft but deadly. He plays with the ties of blood. He stoops so low, it is sometimes hard to grasp him. He is ready to let Chamusso go when he realizes the truth but the damage he caused makes a terror out of an ordinary man. While he is in anti-terrorist squad, he creates a terrorist of a family man. He does not stop with that and quite cunningly manages to plant seeds of thoughts to Chamusso’s wife Precious (Bonnie Henna).
Noyce skillfully makes us to think about how we extract information or treat prisoners as such. Is it worth it to use the gruesome technique to get information? It might result in saving lives but does it end out there? If some one is fighting against some one, acting according to their expectations just proves their point of hating them. In the delusion of keeping a safe place, many forget the people who gets stamped and how the chain of war never ending up. In “Catch a Fire”, as the end approaches and we are looking for the confrontation of Chamusso and Nic, it takes a wild turn. I will not reveal it but it is how Noyce arranges the complex message to many in simpler terms from the horse’s mouth. It could have been the perfect opportunity for Noyce to employ his directorial skills. But we see him how much he is up for the message than the movie itself.
If some one can define a perfect family man’s life, that would be Patrick Chamusso’s (Derek Luke). He works in an oil refinery stepping his way up, sitting by side with his kids and helping them in Math, earning the jealousy of his wife when he dances with another lady and sweetly gets a tap in his head, coaching a local kid’s soccer team and staying away from politics. Noyce with the cool headed Luke makes no mistake in giving that. We know his life is going to be shambled into disaster. Whenever normalcy rises up and flows out of the brim it is a bad indication for the family in films. It is understood that a calamity waits and is going to break them apart. Many do it in cheap works of cinematic. Not here. We feel sorry for the Chamusso who will be facing the painful interrogation orchestrated by Colonel Nic Vos (Tim Robbins) working for the Anti-terrorist squad.
Chamusso completes the perfect family man by having another family. And at one point when he confesses it to Nic, even he does not believe. He is good to be a family man and a terrorist but not some one to have an affair. A man who does not even sing the anthem of the Freedom Fighters song when the whole factory workers are chorusing tells about Chamusso. He never, ever wants to be in trouble and put his family in jeopardy. How an innocent man can be tortured and changed to be some one else is “Catch a Fire”.
As Nic Vos, Tim Robbins comes up with yet another powerful performance. Even in the end it is hard to get this man. He never shows signs of anything at all. He is a family man too. He trains them to shoot and says to protect them when danger hits them. His way of interrogation is soft but deadly. He plays with the ties of blood. He stoops so low, it is sometimes hard to grasp him. He is ready to let Chamusso go when he realizes the truth but the damage he caused makes a terror out of an ordinary man. While he is in anti-terrorist squad, he creates a terrorist of a family man. He does not stop with that and quite cunningly manages to plant seeds of thoughts to Chamusso’s wife Precious (Bonnie Henna).
Noyce skillfully makes us to think about how we extract information or treat prisoners as such. Is it worth it to use the gruesome technique to get information? It might result in saving lives but does it end out there? If some one is fighting against some one, acting according to their expectations just proves their point of hating them. In the delusion of keeping a safe place, many forget the people who gets stamped and how the chain of war never ending up. In “Catch a Fire”, as the end approaches and we are looking for the confrontation of Chamusso and Nic, it takes a wild turn. I will not reveal it but it is how Noyce arranges the complex message to many in simpler terms from the horse’s mouth. It could have been the perfect opportunity for Noyce to employ his directorial skills. But we see him how much he is up for the message than the movie itself.
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