Catch a Fire

In general, what did you like and dislike about the film?

From the three movies, I liked the realness of this one. How they showed the point of view of ordinary people passing through a living hell; the crudeness of it all. The tortures. There was also a better contextualization of the physical space: we could see industries and the working class, how black people lived their daily life, not only the revolution. I also liked how it showed the other side of the coin: the life of the white people.

Maybe, the characters aging was a bit off. Even though the movie covered many years, the protagonist almost didn’t age at all. It was short, too.

Who was the character you like the most and the character you liked the least in the film? Why?

Though I didn’t really like Patrick Chamusso as a character, I did like a lot the performance of the actor. He portrayed the change of Chamusso (from being passive to revolutionary), really good. He was a very complete character, and had a huge development from the beginning to the end.

I think every character was well accomplished. The “villain”, Nic Vos, was also great in terms of performance. He wasn’t purely evil, we could distinguish how he acted differently when he was with his family. He wasn’t just a racist, hateful, human. But I still don't support in any way his actions.

What was the role of Samora Machel, the FRELIMO, and revolutionary Mozambique in the struggle against the South African apartheid? Use examples from the film and the biography of Samora Machel.

He led the Revolution of the Frelimo army against the Portuguese, which eventually turned into a country's coup of Mozambique. He also created a safe space where the ANC could train his people, which was shown in the movie. After becoming the president of Mozambique, he kept aiding other countries that were struggling against their government and the racism, such as South Africa.