loading loading...

Catch A Fire Details

2006 Certificate 12
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 6977 members

A political thriller that powerfully tells the real-life story of a South African hero's journey to freedom. In the country's turbulent and divided times in the 1980s, Patrick Chamusso (Derek Luke) is an oil refinery foreman and soccer coach who is apolitical - until he and his wife Precious (Bonnie Henna) are jailed. Patrick .. Read more

Starring Tim Robbins, Derek Luke, Bonnie Mbuli, Mncedisi Shabangu
Director Phillip Noyce
Genres Drama

Sign up Catch A Fire DVD

Buy From: £3.93

loading loading...

Catch A Fire cover art

Catch A Fire

A political thriller that powerfully tells the real-life story of a South African hero's journey to freedom. In the country's turbulent and divided times in the 1980s, Patrick Chamusso (Derek Luke) is an oil refinery foreman and soccer coach who is apolitical - until he and his wife Precious (Bonnie Henna) are jailed. Patrick is stunned into action against the country's oppressive reigning system, even as police Colonel Nic Vos (Tim Robbins) further insinuates himself into the Chamussos' lives.

Starring Tim Robbins, Derek Luke, Bonnie Mbuli, Mncedisi Shabangu
Director Phillip Noyce
Studio UIP
Run time DVD: 1 hr 41 mins
Certificate Certificate 12
Collections Anthony Minghella Collection
Genres Drama
Language DVD: English
Subtitles DVD: English, Arabic, Danish, Finnish, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish
Released DVD: 16 Jul 2007
Production year: 2006
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews of Catch A Fire

    View all

  • Africa and its history are now rich pickings for foreign producers, and no picking is richer than a true tale that... read more on Time Out

    • Dave Calhoun, 
    • Time Out
    • Posted 04 Nov 2008

  • Most helpful member's review of Catch A Fire

    View all
  • 55 out of 56 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Essential viewing

    This film should be part of the national curriculum! Essential viewing for any student of South African history, it tells loud and clear of the appalling brutality of the white regime in pre-ANC led South Africa. The acting is of a high enough calibre to make me rate this film very good, but the overall impact makes happy to give it 5 out of 5. There are a couple of moments of slight cheesiness, but they shouldn't detract too much. Even the South African accents aren't too bad!

      • Dan Thurgood from Liverpool
      • Posted 23 Mar 2007 21:17

  • Most recent members' review of Catch A Fire

    View all
  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Apartheid

    A very powerful film, based on a true story, with some of the actors actually related to the persons being portraid.

    Very realistic; what it was actually like to be THERE, during the violent and brutal situation later called Apartheid, which led to the formation of the ANC, the triumph of Mandella, and reconciliation.

    The leading actors are excellent, and the settings and crowd scenes are amazing - the film directors must have found and recruited young local people whose parents were involved at the time.

    The film also suggests the reasons for some of the white Africaan's behaviour - plain fear of what the native black people would do them if they were not kept repressed.

    I learned a lot from the film. I think it could well be required viewing for South-African-history classes in schools.

  • News and features

    View all
    Catch A Fire

    Catch a Fire

    • 20 Mar 2007

    Originally known as 'Hotstuff' but changed to avoid unwarranted blaxploitation/disco era connotations, Catch A Fire is further proof that Africa has become fashionable continent for Western liberal filmmakers. Not that you could accuse screenwriter Shawn Slovo of following a trend. Born and bred in South Africa, where her father Joe was leader of the Communist Party and a prominent ANC activist, she wrote A World Apart back in 1988, while Nelson Mandela was still in prison on Robben Island.... Read more

  • Image gallery

    View all
    Showing 1 to 4 of 5

    loading

  • More like this

    View all
    Showing 1 to 4 of 20

    loading

Find cinemas


Rating breakdown

6,977 Member ratings
  • 100
303
  • 90
194
  • 80
1,670
  • 70
1,700
  • 60
1,853
  • 50
542
  • 40
434
  • 30
115
  • 20
131
  • 10
35

Related user collection

Buy from the LOVEFiLM shop

    • Catch A Fire

    • Catch A Fire
    • DVD: £3.93
      Free Delivery
    • RRP £17.79 (you save: 78%)
      • A political thriller that powerfully tells the real-life story of a South African hero's journey to freedom. In the country's turbulent and divided times in the 1980s, Patrick Chamusso (Derek Luke) ...