Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

fedor8 A totally transparent, asinine analogy is forced down our throats here between South Africa's racist apartheid regime and Bush's government.A totally transparent - and even more despicable - analogy is being made between the "noble" ANC terrorists and Islamic terrorists. Basically, terrorism is justified here by the liberal propaganda machine - yet again. Worse yet, the terrorists (the poor dears) are allegedly FORCED into it, i.e. they didn't have a choice in the matter. This of course fits in neatly with Marx's idiotic notion that man is inherently good/perfect hence does evil only when coerced into it (by evil capitalist forces, preferably).So killing civilians randomly in the streets is okay, says Tim, Tinseltown's self-absorbed, hilariously deluded, barely literate "intellectual".The film provides absolutely zero criticism of the fact that the ANC is, was and always will be a Marxist, un-democratic movement (they've been in power for over 20 years now!). Also avoided is the obvious hot issue of the day: the constant slide into economic disaster the country has been going through ever since Mandela's "freedom-fighters" won control over the country. And I mean all of the control. It's a dictatorship.But did anyone truly expect an intelligent, unbiased, realistic portrayal of the freeing of S.A.'s black people from a movie which Tim Robbins agreed to star in? Tim is a talentless nepotist (the son of a famous country singer) whose only path towards Tinseltown glory was by putting on the U2 Bono Cap Of Self-Righteousness and a phony Michael Stipe World Humanitarian Scarf.

ma-cortes The picture shows life in Apartheid-era South Africa, it deals about the real story of Patrick Chamusso(Derek Luke), an oil refinery foreman, soccer coach and good father of family . He's married to Precious(Bonnie Henna) and with children. The president Botha's government rules in iron hand of the supremacist white minority over the black population in an oppressive system. When happen an explosion in the refinery Patrick is arrested by police colonel Nic Vos(Tim Robbins).The secretive torture and sadism that follows in custody leads to his changing ideals. His wife is also arrested and then truly starts to watch the atrocities, forced to become freedom fighter and then he goes into action. Rebellion against the repressive government breaks out his mind. He's attempting to change his world for the better but at the expense of using terrorist means. Then he goes to Mozambique where is trained by the local terrorist guerrilla and he joins the ANC, African National Congress.This is an exciting and thrilling movie based on real events.This story about apartheid is very compelling made and deserving a fine treatment with poignant moments.It's completely convincing and makes a moving and powerful statement about the evil of the racism. Superb cast with fine all round performances; particularly from Derek Luke, he does a very good job, he's surprisingly good in the role of dad turned terrorist, and excellent Tim Robbins as sadistic torturer.The remainder of the casting was also competent enough and did splendid acting.Evocative cinematography by Garry Phillips and Ron Fortunato. Adequate musical score with African sounds by Philip Miller . The motion picture is professionally directed by Phillip Noyce. Another films about ¨Apartheid¨ theme are the following: ¨ Cry the beloved country¨with Sidney Poitier; ¨The power of one¨ with Armin Mueller Stall and Steven Dorff;¨A world apart¨by Chris Menges with Barbara Hershey and Jodhi May; ¨A white dry season¨with Marlon Brando; ¨Cry Freedom¨ by Richard Attemborough with Denzel Washington and Kevin Kline; and the biographies, as ¨Mandela¨ with Danny Glover and Alfre Woodward as Winnie and ¨Mandela and DeKlerk¨, among others.

Dr_Mark_ODoherty When watching this movie, one should keep the following quote in mind: "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." Because although it is true, that the movie covers a sad and tragic phase in South African history, a lot of innocent white South Africans were also seriously injured and killed by "Freedom Fighters" - the movie should have focused on that perhaps as well, underlining the problem, that the ANC had a policy of not harming innocents, but this was almost never the case - however Chamusso tried to follow this policy, (that was depicted well in the movie) and was jailed, because he was careful not to harm innocents.But Chamusso's quote at the end, "That the white people were forced to abolish Apartheid", is not really true. A national vote was held 1992 in South Africa - "the referendum" - and the majority of the white people voted for the abolishment of Apartheid; so in the end black AND white South Africans made the peaceful transition in South Africa possible. So the end of the movie - which is hastily tacked on - seems bitter and resentful, but historically it all turned out well after all. All in all, the movie is good for people who have not heard about Apartheid before - or even about South Africa. But Americans can certainly learn from this story, to achieve a better social cohesion between white and coloured people in the US.

antoniotierno This film didn't have the attention it would have deserved, at least in Europe (no attention at all in Italy..) but it's quite riveting. Elevated and empowered by Tim Robbin's and Derek Luke's performances "Catch a fire" has the right impact and vibrancy. It should raise important political questions in a world obsessed with terrorism and it's also filled with well - staged action scenes. The apartheid era is properly described and the social history developing in this context is certainly remarkable, though not flawless. Compared to other productions dealing with the same subject this one offers a perspective a bit different and more mature and ends up with a surprising forgiveness