Review of Catch a Fire (2006) by Xxxjenni P — 15 Nov 2007

A highly complex and confusing character driven film. The film seems to dance upon the conventions of other "peaceful men forced to fight" historical epics like Braveheart, a story structure that is dependent on clear heroes and an ominously evil villain.

But neither hero nor villain is clearly either. Luke is solid, but fails to convey how his revolutionary impulses prevail. His character as the first and foremost family-man makes a 180 after his torturous captivity.

Not to say I blame him. But neither Luke nor the script give us the viable characterizaton where he could be the heroic character that the film concludes him to be. And the story fails to clarify Tim Robbins' character as the "monster" that Chamusso calls him at the end.

In far too many scenes we're meant to empathize with his predicament and his own family situation. Now as the film clearly articulates, this was a terrible and terribly complex situation. So I can't relate and obviously cannot pass any sort of judgment on the real thing, but the film dances on Hollywood conventional narrative structure, when perhaps, it should've stuck even closer to the true events.

So instead of feeling enlightened by how the film delved into these events, I feel like there's much more digging to be done. In a story structure meant to distinguish black and white characters, "Catch a Fire" gives us darker and lighter grays and then calls them black and white by the end.

I leave this movie frustrated at this partial Hollywoodization and starving for the true story.