Catch a Fire

Today I woke up all slow and calmed (Sibu morning breeze can do that to you), despite getting a call from Chuma at 7am I just head back to sleep and got up at 10am. "Mood must be high today" I say to myself half-asleep, "because it's Sunday :D". So do whatever what not, and then tuned into HBO and caught Catch a Fire.

This is one great based-on-a-true-story political movie. Two thumbs up from me who watched it through and postponed my shower. So anyways here's the spoiler, RUN if you want:

The story revolves around the life of Patrick Chamusso, a dude with a loving family, a great job and basically living 'the good simple life'' in Secunda, South Africa. Besides working as a foreman at a Secunda coal-to-oil refinery, Pat coaches the Secunda Lions soccer team consist of promising child players. Upon returning from a championship outside Secunda, the refinery Pat was working at blew up and he was accused of being a terrorist by the apartheid government.

With his friends, wife and even his wee key player got whupped badly by Nic Vos (some Anti-Terrorist agent in South Africa at that time), Pat decided to join the African National Congress (ANC) for some freedom-fighting training along with thousands other oppressed apartheid victims. And this, ironically, shows how the agency and the apartheid government has turned innocent Pat into the very terrorist they were trying to stop He then got involved in a terrorist plan to continue blowing up the whole refinery he is working on (yeah, the refinery is UBER BIG and the first terror attack was not so damaging) to give a liberation message to the Boers. Pat almost succeeded with the plan, but sadly Nic Vos managed to find THE bomb that was meant to blow up the refinery kingdom come. He was arrested and was sentenced to 24 years in prison in the Robben Island. Luckily a famous political figure, Nelson Mandela, a fellow anti-apartheid came to power and abolished the apartheid system for good. Pat was released after only 5 years in prison, and South Africa is liberated.

Again, great movie and I recommend it for those who are into unbiased political movie which covers the life, struggle and pain from the people's point of view that managed to make me feel attached with the characters in the story. For me, I'll say the movie ranks top in my thumbs up list along with another movie, The Pianist.

External Links:
Catch a Fire