MovieChat Forums > Catch a Fire (2006) Discussion > What a Complete Turkey!

What a Complete Turkey!


I just watched this bit of poop, after avoiding it for a long time.

I am South African and I knew it was going to be a one sided depiction of South Africa. And boy was I right!

Surprisingly it is so laughably badly written and directed that I chuckled all the way through it. The film is so stupidly one sided that it cannot even be taken seriously. It feels like a directionless tirade that goes nowhere. What a wasted effort!

Tim Robbins does a fair accent and that is the only positive thing to be said about this movie, but really what the hell was he doing in this turkey? Why would he take on this level of script? He must have been aware that he has no real role to play, other than look worried. Maybe he was just overwelmed by the idea of making a 'message movie'.The South African actors obviously had a few laughs throwing funny swear words into their scenes. ‘Moer toe!’ hahahah!

Anyway, it sucked hugely.

Blood Diamond touched some of the same issues Africa faces but at least with more insight and analysis. It is soooo naïve to think the end of Apartheid also means the end of South Africa’s problems. And there are many huge issues that have absolutely nothing to do with white/black relations. This crap-fest depicts the ANC as a army of glory soldiers who can do no wrong with no mention of the torture and killing within it's own ranks…

reply

It's a movie not a documentary. Show me a movie that perfectly depicts an actual event without artistic license, strategic omissions, bias, political slant, propaganda, understated facts or exaggerations and I'll show you the flaws in the film that you missed. All movies based on true events are meant to entertain on some level. For that to happen effectively you have to have someone to empathize with. Painting the true ugliness of humanity, that most of us are selfish and depraved does not an entertaining film make. Your other critics have merit but don't expect a well-balanced story from 'based-on-a-true-story' movies and biopics.

reply

Yeah we all know that White South African mostly Afrikaans are sooo innocent of any wrong doing.

reply

I didn't say the Afrikaaners were innocent of anything. But since you brought it up, FaydeToBlak, do you suppose ALL Afrikaaners are 'guilty' of -I suppose- inventing and supporting Apartheid then? If you are I can understand how a simplistic movie like this would fit your world view.

Anyway, that's a moot point.Every group in S.A. -or for that matter the world- have skeletons in their closets... no pun intended.

Do you feel this movie with it's Hollywood-filtered 'thriller' understanding of S.A.'s problems has shown the world anything of value? Has this same ground not been better covered earlier movies that where made when apartheid was still actually a issue?

Let's see how much better things will get when Jacob Zuma becomes the next President of S.A. I am sure a guy who stood trail for rape and corruption -and who has another possible trail pending- is just the man for the job.



reply

Maritze,

I find it interesting that you decided to throw in the Zuma comment, which has nothing to do with the above discussion of the movie.

Seems like you couldn't avoid taking a little poke at a black South African, despite the fact that this had nothing to do with the discussion?

By the way, I just got back form S.A. Had a nice time.

reply

Cornerboy, read Fadetoblack's sweeping comments about generalizing Afrikaaners. Funny how YOU didn't comment on that!

And Yes, it's a little 'poke' at Zuma as you say, but you are wrong in thinking it is based on race. It's a typical misconception of people from other country's to think everything uttered by a white person in S.A. is racially based.

I am not racist. Apartheid was wrong.

As for Zuma, I brought him up becuase he is the future leader of the country. And with him in power things are looking decidedly bleak. Is he capable of sorting out S.A.'s problems? (A guy who's 'theme song' is 'Bring me my Machine Gun') Anyway, keep an eye on the country and see if I wrong in say 5 years time.

And I am glad you had a 'nice' time in S.A. It's always nice to go home too isn't it?

reply

Maritze, why are you even trying to reason with these two condescending know- it-alls? They, like most foreigners, especially Americans, only know the politically correct slop fed to them by the so-called anti-apartheid movement, as well as from the thugs of the ANC and its satellite sponsors like Cuba and the South African Communist Party.
These know-it-alls are really the racists, as they are the only ones seeing things in black and white terms. Literally. They don't, or worse, don't want to know, or understand the complexities of the South african apartheid situation.
I served in the SADF, and was posted to the border for a tour of duty. The soldiers of the SADF were not the mindless, racist thugs depicted in this, frankly, offensive movie. And the ANC were not a noble resistance force struggling against a state aggressor.
The SADF was integrated by 1990, with 50% of it black volunteeers, about 35% career permanent force soldiers and only 15% white National Servicemen, of which I'm proud to say I was part of. It was one of the finest armies to walk the face of the Earth, with highly trained soldiers and a backbone of iron discipline.
We were taught respect for the indigenous inhabitants of South Africa, whether black or white. What none of these judgemental, and frankly, ignorant contributors to this thread have ever asked themselves is, if the SADF and then South African security forces were so fiercely racist, why were there so many black soldiers and police? Can't be that many Uncle Toms.
There is no question of the wrongness of apartheid, and by the very absurdity of its nature, it was dismantling itself by the mid eighties.
The ANC, by contrast, were a vicious band of thugs that tolerated no dissent, whether real or perceived, thus the necklacing in the townships, the torture and murder of innocents at the hands of Winnie Mandela and her 'soccer team' and the stories of naked barbarism at ANC training camps that came out of its own so-called 'Truth and Reconciliation Hearings'.

George Orwell wrote about the fate of South Africa, and Africa itself, in his book 'Animal Farm', a fable depicting the rise and hypocrisy of Communisn within a commune of animals, and the carnage of murder, lies and deception in its wake.
Apartheid was evil, but what replaced it is worse. Mandela, Zuma, Mbeki and the rest of the elite live high on the hog, while the majority is in even worse shape than it was under white minority rule. The blame for that is laid at the universally useful 'legacy of apartheid/Colonialism', and what money does get stolen from whites under racist policies like BEE and AA, also goes into the pockets of the ANC elite. Tokyo Sexwale, a Soviet trained Marxist thug, has become a billionare like this, at the same time as South Africa's HIV infected population is now 3 million.
And, God knows, you can't criticize any of this, especially not Saint Mandela, because if you do, you are automatically a racist.

Think about this, in 1992, Saint Mandela gave a speech, and thanked the attendees for their role in freeing him and his people.
The speech was given in Havana, Cuba.


reply

I'm sorry but i have to agree with the original poster, i thought this movie was terrible ! Hell even the great Tim Robins was disappointing.

reply

Animal Farm was not about Africa or South Africa. It is an allegory for Totalitarianism in the Soviet Union, and despite your bombastic vocabulary, you're kinda wrong.Obviously there are problems in South Africa now. There will always be. But this movie is not meant to deal with any of that. It's essentially a biopic about one man and his experience in the 1980s during the last years of Apartheid. And to the original poster, sure the movie is flawed. No one is saying it is perfect. But just because there are better movies on the subject does it condemn this movie from being made? Certainly not, or there would be no Goodfellas because the Godfather already exists, or no Sopranos, etc. The movie, however, provides an interesting, entertaining story and for the most part succeeds.

reply

I didn't find "Catch a Fire" at all one sided. I think Phillip Noyce just told the story as it happened. You can't apportion blame in a situation where the parties are both wrong...and both right. It's a story that needed to be told without politicising and any South African who finds it one sided, clearly has a guilty conscience.

BTW, I was born and lived my whole life in SA and have NO intention of ever leaving.

"I never knew magic crazy as this"
Nick Drake
19/06/1948 – 25/11/1974
RIP

reply

Hey Spaceygirl!

Good on you for sticking it out. I too was born and raised in S.A. and will forever be South African (Afrikaans no less) -even though my current passport says otherwise. And by the way, no 'guilty conscience' here.

Putting aside all the S.A. issues and looking at the movie as simply a thriller, I still think it’s pretty lousy.

reply

I understand how irritating it must be to have FOREIGN actors impersonating characters (and directors/writers putting words in their mouth) in historically/politically loaded movies, to be distributed worldwide.
I can only imagine how annoying it must be for Africans to see just too many American actors in English language films based in Africa.

It will be better once the SA film industry makes its own movies with its own actors.
Nevertheless I'm not sure the movies will be considered less biased to those who don't agree with the director's opinion.

Maritze I understand your point but to me (European, been to SA and Southern Africa several times) : it is not an outstanding movie but a rather good movie.

reply

[deleted]

OK. I'm Canadian and I didn't see it as a one sided depiction at all. I don't
gobble(pun)up propaganda easily and saw the Tim Robbins character as someone
who was doing a difficult job well. I also saw the ANC side. Some of the
tactics they used were despicable(necklacing not shown here).
Having said that I gave this movie a 10 because it really held my attention.
I think Tim Robbins did an excellent job here. This character didn't remotely
impress me as being a monster. In difficult times, one does difficult things.
I understand where you're coming from.

reply

Worthy subject matter, but as a film, it singularly failed to involve me.

Was it meant to be a thriller?

Very pedestrian.

reply

I'm not South African, but I definitely saw the movie as one sided. The fact the movie makes the ANC heros would be like a bunch of MS13 members committing attacks in the US to overthrow the government and a movie marking them as heros. The ANC were a bunch of commie scum, the fall of apartheid didn't fix anything, now the countries much worse off ever since ANC came to power.

reply

I think it makes it clear that the protagonist tried not to cause casualties and that's part of why he got caught and went to prison. The movie is not meant to tell the whole story of the ANC, just one person's experiences.

reply

The lead character isn't even a South African. How can he become a noble terrorist fighting in the country which offered him a better life and job than he had in the African-ruled country he left willingly to enter apartheid South Africa?

reply

I'm not South African, but am married to one (Yes a Boer/Afrikaaner). He refuses to watch this movie as he saw from previews it is terribly one sided and would probably anger him. His family has suffered at the hands of the ANC and their 'freedom fighters'. As a boy he witnessed necklace killings, farm raids, ect. There was nothing noble about what some have done.

If this movie were to show both sides of the story people would be horrified at what the blacks did (and are doing) to the whites as well. This movie was made to push one message and one message only... The Afrikaaners/Boers are evil racist pigs who torture innocent men, women, and children. The native/blacks are innocent bystanders who just wanted 'their country' back.

If that isn't one sided I don't know what is.

People who do not know the whole story may see this movie as truthful and insightful... those who have learned or know differently will not.

I too once thought the conflict in South Africa was simple, one sided, and now over or at the very least nearly over. I now know better. I now see the propoganda that was fed to the American people, the BS we are taught in our public schools about the whole situation. There was no one simple 'good guy' and 'bad guy'. There are crappy whites and there are crappy blacks. There are whites who are hateful and racist, there are blacks who are hateful and racist. Violence is still a way of life there and we hear nothing of it in the American media today... yet I hear from my husband's family what is happening.

Do some research. Open your eyes. There is no 'peace and forgiveness' there.

reply

Quit crying. That Boer of yours can go to hell cause he is a crybaby. He is just mad he and others like him was forced to give those people there country back. If a white nation was taken over by a non-white race and did the crap they were doing you would go APE SH*T. Both you and your husband are racist so go in the corner and cry.

reply