Fire sheds new light on the end of apartheid

"Catch a Fire" Focus Features, Universal Pictures International Review by Wednesday Pink After sitting through the sensory attack that is the seemingly endless barrage of advertisements and previews one comes to expect of any theatre outing these days, I almost forgot what I was about to see. But the thick-accented broadcast of the African National Congress' s (ANC) banned radio playing over scenes of South African police beating students and guerillas carrying flag-draped coffins along with AK-47s soon reminded me. While very simplistic, "Catch a Fire" is a well-crafted tale of the point where one man's desire for personal justice connects with a people's struggle to rid itself of oppression. The film is based on the life of Patrick Chamusso, who until now was just one of the faceless warriors of the ANC's military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe (a Zulu name that means "spear of the nation"). We see Chamusso, played here by Derek Luke, go from the quintessential "good Negro" to a freedom fighter willing to risk his own life for the greater movement against the white apartheid government. What made me really want to go see this film wasn't the stunning trailer full of revolutionary rhetoric, but Shawn Slovo, the woman who wrote the script. Slovo is the daughter of two of South Africa's most infamous white citizens, Joe Slovo and Ruth First. Joe was a communist leader and one of the founders of Umkhonto. First was a Jewish communist and student activist; her life was cut short by a parcel bomb sent to her in exile by the South African security forces. Being the daughter of such renowned militants, it is easy to see why Shawn would create "Catch a Fire," which she claims is a tribute to her father and all the others who fought for liberation and equality. The movie begins with Chamusso and his family living a relatively comfortable life; they own a car and live in a real home (as opposed to one-bedroom shacks that most folks in their neighborhood have). We are shown that this comes at the expense of his integrity as a black man; Chamusso refers to all white men as "boss" and refuses to let his family listen to the ANC's popular illegal radio broadcast. All of this is ended by a guerrilla attack against Chamusso's employer, the Secunda Refinery. Secunda generates diesel out of coal; it was a symbol of the white government's self-reliance in the face of growing international protest. This sabotage provides for one of the films shining moments: as the black workers file past detectives, they break out into a Zulu freedom song encouraging freedom fighters to "burn it down!" This act of defiance turns the previously disenfranchised mass into a proud group of individuals dancing while black smoke spews from the symbol of their oppression. Chamusso is swept up in the investigation and finds himself being accused of terrorism. In the role of head of the anti-terrorist unit is Nic Vos, played by well-known Hollywood liberal do-gooder Tim Robbins. Robbins puts Chamusso and his wife through a series of brutal torture sessions, which include fake drowning and beatings. Finally, the police free Chamusso, realizing he had nothing to do with the attack at Secunda. Upon his return, Chamusso promises his wife that he will make everything right again, thus beginning his journey into the world of armed resistance. Traveling from South Africa to Mozambique and later Angola, Chamusso is schooled in the ways of warfare. After a brutal attack on a guerilla training camp by the South African Army, Chamusso and a fictionalized Joe Slovo conceive of a second attack against Secunda that will end its production for good. One thing that stands out about "Catch a Fire" is the choice of Patrick Chamusso as the protagonist. Unlike other popular anti-apartheid films, such as "Cry Freedom," Slovo chose to show us the struggle through the lens of a black man instead of an educated white liberal. This shows great dedication to the truth; although it is not a given that a film about armed black people fighting white people (as opposed to the "black on black violence" genre) will do well in the box offices. I'm also happy to say that Slovo show's the armed struggle as an honorable and viable option, not a youthful mistake as most films depict such resistance. "Catch a Fire" helps to shatter the myth that the pacifist movement led by Nelson Mandela was what eventually brought down apartheid. In fact, Mandela was imprisoned for his role in the guerilla wing of the ANC that was a precursor to Umkhonto we Sizwe. My only real criticism of the film is that it shines too positive a light on the post-apartheid government led by the ANC. We see throngs of happy crowds as Mandela and others arrive home from Robin Island, and it appears that injustice and inequality are a thing of the past for most South Africans. This cannot be further from reality. As soon as the ANC took over, they made a deal with the International Monetary Fund, thus signing their nation into perpetual debt. The children of the Soweto fighters are now rioting against the same conditions, but now they have a few black police officers firing on them. In the words of a black South African professor in the film "The Fourth World War": "…nothing's changed for us, or masters just went from white to black; I'm still a field nigger!"