Review of Catch a Fire (2006) by Matt F — 16 Nov 2006

This movie was definitely a good political thriller. Tim Robbins gives one of the best performances of his career as the hard and harsh leader of a covert pack of terrorist investigators working for the CIA in Africa. When an attack is performed at a local village's power plant, the buzz of rebel terrorist automatically makes every black man and woman a suspect in the "white-controlled" plant surroundings.

Derek Luke is prime suspect number one due to his foreman position; but he, of course, has nothing to do with it. The audience knows it, but the powerfully corrupt CIA operatives go to extreme lengths to prove him wrong. In the process, innocents suffer, reputations and lives are shattered and lost and the promise of a better future remains the motivation for overcoming hatred and being able to forgive.

The story is a typical cat-and-mouse-prove-my-innocence-at-all-costs kind of stroyline, but it works because it's based on a true story. The events that transpired during Apartheid in Africa during these turbulent years is genuinely and nakedly represented on film. The outpouring of resentment from the native Africans against the intruding white Africaners permeates every scene of the film. Definitely catch this fire-- at least on DVD.