For L.A. Times columnist Patrick Goldstein, the Toronto Film Festival movie “that had the most indelible connection to current events was Catch a Fire, the much-praised Phillip Noyce drama set in 1980s-era South Africa.
“When a friend asked what it was about, I told him it was the story of a country so traumatized by its fight against terrorism that it arrests and tortures an innocent, peace-loving man, doing such a good job of infuriating him that when he’s released from prison he becomes the most ardent terrorist of all.
“My pal joked: ‘So, it’s really about today.’ And so it is. The parallels are striking, whether your point of view takes you to the horrors of Abu Ghraib, Israel’s war with Hezbollah or the repressive regimes of Egypt and Iran. As Noyce acknowledges, ‘This is a story that’s set in 1980, but it’s also set in 2006.'”