Catch a Fire

Set during the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa in the 1980s, CATCH A FIRE tells the story of Patrick Chamusso (Derek Luke), a black foreman at a white-owned oil refinery near Johannesburg. He has a good job, a beautiful wife named Precious (Bonnie Henna), and two small girls. South Africa is ruled by fear and government-enforced apartheid (rigid segregation), and the only way to instigate change, according to some activists, is with guerrilla warfare and terrorism. That's just what happens at the refinery. When an explosion rips through the facility, Chamusso is arrested, tortured, and held in a shabby, makeshift jail by men supervised by Col. Nic Vos (Tim Robbins). Vos is an officer in the Police Security Branch charged with identifying and arresting members of the African National Congress (ANC), whose goal is to rid South Africa of apartheid. Chamusso is innocent, but his alibi doesn't hold up. He refuses to confess, but when Precious is arrested, he accepts responsibility for the bombing. Chamusso and Precious are released, and he joins the ANC and sneaks across the border into Mozambique to train and eventually help stop the brutal government.