Derek Luke as Patrick Chamusso in 'Catch a Fire.' Focus Features
Morning Edition, October 27, 2006 · Catch a Fire sounds like an awfully familiar story. And, in some ways, it is. Movies on how South Africa suffered under apartheid, and the heroic efforts made to resist that repressive system, are hardly new. So it's tempting to write off this newest look at that era as too familiar and too late. That would be a mistake.
SYNOPSIS
Powerfully telling the story of a South African hero's journey to freedom, Catch a Fire is the new film from director Phillip Noyce (The Quiet American, Rabbit-Proof Fence). The political thriller takes place during the country's turbulent and divided times in the early 1980s, and in the new South Africa of today. Derek Luke portrays real-life hero Patrick Chamusso. Patrick is a charming and loving husband to his wife Precious (Bonnie Henna), and a caring father to his two young daughters. He works as a foreman at the centrally located Secunda oil refinery, which is a symbol of South Africa's self-sufficiency at a time when the world was protesting the country's oppressive apartheid system. In his spare time, Patrick coaches a local boys' soccer team. Carefully toeing the hard line imposed on blacks by apartheid, Patrick is completely apolitical. Academy Award winner Tim Robbins plays Nic Vos, a Colonel in the country's Police Security Branch. The shrewd and charismatic Vos strives to maintain order in volatile situations, which have become more and more frequent as the outlawed activist organization African National Congress (ANC) rallies blacks against apartheid. Vos is also concerned for the safety of his wife and two daughters. He and his family live a world away from the Chamusso family ... until the innocent Patrick comes under suspicion and is arrested (in June 1980) for sabotage of the Secunda oil refinery. His alibi is compromised, and Patrick is desperate to shield Precious from a past indiscretion and keep his job. But he is ill-prepared to withstand brutal interrogations by Vos' men. As Vos further insinuates himself into the lives of the Chamussos, to Patrick's shock and shame, Precious herself is jailed and tortured. Although he and Precious are soon released from custody, Patrick is stunned into action and completely reorients his sense of self and purpose. He leaves his family to join up with the ANC. Becoming a rebel fighter and political operative, Patrick is radicalized on behalf of his people and his country. He ultimately envisions a formidable and dangerous follow-up strike against the Secunda refinery, risking his own life and future. Change must and will come, for Patrick and his family, and for South Africa itself. --© Focus Features
The Real Patrick Chamusso
PATRICK CHAMUSSO BIOGRAPHY
Patrick was born to a rural family in Mozambique in 1949. His father was a migrant labourer who worked as a miner in South Africa. Patrick has two brothers and a step-sister from his mother's second marriage after the death of his father.
Patrick was a teenager when he followed his father to South Africa. He got odd jobs on the mines and eventually found work as a house painter and street photographer. Patrick was not formally educated; he only received schooling while he was a prisoner on Robben Island. He was a talented soccer player and played for local leagues.
When he was in his 28, he moved to Secunda, a town several hours east of Johannesburg. He found a job at the Secunda Oil Refinery, the largest coal-to-oil plant in the world. His soccer-playing prowess made him popular at the plant and in the community. He was 30 when he left Secunda.
In 1980 Patrick was arrested by South African Special Branch, for a crime he did not commit. He was held prisoner, questioned and tortured. After this experience he left South Africa for Mozambique and joined the ANC. After military training, he volunteered to head an operation to single handily blow up the oil refinery where he formally worked. He crossed the border back into South Africa and made his way to Secunda where he carried out the attack. As instructed by the ANC only property was damaged at the plant.
Patrick was later caught, after a massive manhunt, several days after bombing the plant. Patrick was held for nine months without trial. During that time he was brutally tortured. His trial, in the Pretoria Supreme Court, ended with a 24 year jail sentence. Patrick served ten years and was amnestied in 1994, along with all political prisoners.
Patrick now lives in Mpumalanga Province in the North East of South Africa with Conney, a woman he married after his release. They have three children of their own and have fostered 63 others, orphaned by AIDS.
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