Catch a Fire has many ingredients for a good, maybe excellent movie. The actors are fine, the story is interesting, the themes are human and important, the cinematography is beautiful. There is a convincing villain with a devilish charm. The daughter of this villain is rebelling, so there are conflicts in abundance. Still Catch a Fire does not work, one might even call it a failure. How comes? The problem, I think, is that hardly any theme is completely developed. Many themes easily can be missed, so briefly mentioned as they are. Take adultery and jealousy. These are essential for the story. Still we are to believe, that Patrick and Precious immediately forgive each other, when Patrick is freed. But no, in the epilogue we learn they are divorced some time later. Or the revenge theme, see the final scene with Nic Vos. Or the friendship theme - halfway the movie Patrick's best friend just disappears. Or Nic Vos' rebelling daughter. With some effort I could go on and on. Catch a fire wants way too much - or is too short, depending on what view you take. It wants to present musical, drama, action, suspense, politics. In the end it is nothing. Though I did not really get the chance to become involved, I was not bored or annoyed either. For its good intentions I rate it 6/10. But I might be a bit prejudiced pro this movie, because of Tim Robbins and because of the subject. I have made a tiny contribution to ANC's work myself 30 years ago.
Review of Catch a Fire
